Free Republic

The U.S. Air Force on April 22 launched a winged spacecraft designed to conduct military experiments on orbit for as long as nine months before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding to a runway landing in California. The service hopes the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will pave the way for a cost-effective, reusable spacecraft platform that can be reconfigured on the ground and relaunched in just a few weeks, Gary Payton, undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs, said April 20 during a media teleconference. But because the X-37B’s specific experiments are classified, as is its budget, much about...

Air Force officials are scheduled to launch the U.S.'s newest and most advanced unmanned re-entry spacecraft April 21 at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will provide a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported to and from the space environment where it will need to function. The X-37B will also prove new technology and components before they are committed to operational satellites. The OTV is the first vehicle since NASA's shuttle orbiter that has the ability to return experiments to Earth...