OTD in Space – April 22: X-37B Launches on 1st Top-Secret Orbital Mission
- last year
On April 22, 2010, the U.S. Air Force launched the super-secret X-37B space plane on its first spaceflight. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com]
This space plane is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much smaller and doesn't have any windows. But the X-37B doesn't need windows anyway, because no one actually flies in it. It's completely autonomous and can even land on a runway without a human pilot. The X-37B has flown several highly classified payloads on long-duration missions. For its first flight, the X-37B launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and it orbited the Earth for 224 days. The Air Force never disclosed what kind of experiments were going on during that time.
This space plane is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much smaller and doesn't have any windows. But the X-37B doesn't need windows anyway, because no one actually flies in it. It's completely autonomous and can even land on a runway without a human pilot. The X-37B has flown several highly classified payloads on long-duration missions. For its first flight, the X-37B launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and it orbited the Earth for 224 days. The Air Force never disclosed what kind of experiments were going on during that time.