Air Force space plane to launch
The Air Force will test its unmanned space plane in this month.
An unmanned space plane, originally developed by NASA but now operated by the Air Force, will make a test flight April 19th.
The X37B is about a quarter of the size of the shuttle. When the project was canceled by NASA in 2004, to concentrate on the (now apparently doomed) Constellation project, it found a home with the Air Force. What was once a civilian vehicle is now a military one.
We don’t know what the mission of the X37B is, but we do know that it can orbit the earth for weeks at a time and return home with its payload. In this aspect, its similar to the Russian “Buran” vehicle which made a single unmanned flight and then was retired. The Air Force hopes to operate a whole fleet of X37Bs for years to come.
