On Thursday, April 22, the U.S. Air Force will finally launch its little, unmanned X-37 orbital spaceplane on top of an Atlas V rocket.
The liftoff, which will take place in a window between 7:52 p.m. and 8:01 p.m., will mark the culmination of years of development for the newest U.S. spacecraft—and the world’s only reusable one after the space shuttle’s planned retirement toward the end of this year.
The X-37 program, which is run by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, has been veiled in secrecy ever since NASA handed the program off to the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency and the Air Force several years ago. The spaceplane’s mission remains a mystery, although deployment of small satellites and space experiments, and their later retrieval and return, have been mentioned as possible activities once the X-37 becomes operational. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/united-launch-alliance-x37-rocket.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheTechnologyBlog+(Los+Angeles+Times+Technology+Blog) http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0422/Pentagon-X-37-space-plane-to-launch-amid-secrecy http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Space-Shuttle-Jr.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37