Thursday, December 13, 2012

What Is The U.S. Air Force's X-37B Mission? (Update)



Secret Shuttle Launch: US Military's X-37B To Spy On Middle East? -- Christian Science Monitor/AP

Secret shuttle launch goes off without a hitch Tuesday. But what is the secret mission of X-37B? The robotic, military shuttle spent seven months in space during its last mission. It could be spying on terrorists, speculates one scientist.

The military's small, top-secret version of the space shuttle rocketed into orbit Tuesday for a repeat mystery mission, two years after making the first flight of its kind.

The Air Force launched the unmanned, robotic spacecraft Tuesday hidden on top of an Atlas V rocket.

It's the third flight for the X-37B spaceplane. It circled the planet for seven months in 2010. A second X-37B spacecraft spent more than a year in orbit.

These high-tech mystery machines — 29 feet long — are about one-quarter the size of NASA's old space shuttles and can land automatically on a runway. The two previous touchdowns occurred in Southern California; this one might end on NASA's three-mile-long runway once reserved for the space agency's shuttles.

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More News On The US Air Force's Recent X-37B Launch

U.S. military sends mystery space drone back into orbit - but they STILL won't tell anyone what its mission will be -- Daily Mail
X-37B: US launches super-secret, orbiting, robotic plane
-- Christian Science Monitor
Air Force’s Secret Space Plane Back in Orbit -- ABC News
Air Force launches mysterious X-37B space plane ... again -- MSNBC
Robotic space plane X-37B launched for classified Air Force mission -- L.A. Times
US military's reusable spacecraft lifts off on mystery mission -- South China Morning Post/AP
Hat Trick for X-37B -- Space Travel
USAF relaunches its first X-37B on a slightly less mysterious spaceflight
-- Endgadget
Why Is the Air Force Launching Unmanned Planes Into Space? -- Slate
What Did The Air Force Just Launch Into Space? -- Forbes

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