Cancel

gear Push settings

bars

homehome Home chatchat Notifications


US Space Plane is in orbit

Whenever Boeing and NASA team up, you can bet your sweet lasers something wicked is going to happen; actually, the first logical thing that would come to mind is a space plane – and this is what they did. The US X-37B is now in orbit, after a successful launch that took place without any […]

Mihai Andrei
March 6, 2011 @ 3:28 pm

share Share

Whenever Boeing and NASA team up, you can bet your sweet lasers something wicked is going to happen; actually, the first logical thing that would come to mind is a space plane – and this is what they did. The US X-37B is now in orbit, after a successful launch that took place without any incidents whatsoever.

The orbital test vehicle took off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. this Sunday, after the Friday launch was called off due to bad weather. The mission and purpose of the space plane was mostly classified and information has been pretty scarce around it, but it is certain that it is designed to operate as an unmanned test platform for space research that can land itself at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Boeing Vice President Craig Cooning shed some light on the matter in a written statement in which he explained that the space plane was being monitored by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office; which in layman terms means that the military is involved and that its purpose is at least partially military.

“We took another important step with the successful launch of the second (orbital test vehicle), enabling the RCO to further experiment with the vehicle and its ability to operate in low-Earth orbit,” Cooning said.

share Share

The Sun Will Annihilate Earth in 5 Billion Years But Life Could Move to Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa

When the Sun turns into a Red Giant, Europa could be life's final hope in the solar system.

A Massive Particle Blasted Through Earth and Scientists Think It Might Be The First Detection of Dark Matter

A deep-sea telescope may have just caught dark matter in action for the first time.

Scientists Used Lasers To Finally Explain How Tiny Dunes Form -- And This Might Hold Clues to Other Worlds

Decoding how sand grains move and accumulate on Earth can also help scientists understand dune formation on Mars.

Astronomers Claim the Big Bang May Have Taken Place Inside a Black Hole

Was the “Big Bang” a cosmic rebound? New study suggests the Universe may have started inside a giant black hole.

Astronomers Just Found the Most Powerful Cosmic Event Since the Big Bang. It's At Least 25 Times Stronger Than Any Supernova

The rare blasts outshine supernovae and reshape how we study black holes.

Terraforming Mars Might Actually Work and Scientists Now Have a Plan to Try It

Can we build an ecosystem on Mars — and should we?

New Simulations Suggest the Milky Way May Never Smash Into Andromeda

A new study questions previous Milky Way - Andromeda galaxy collision assumptions.

China Is Building The First AI Supercomputer in Space

China wants to turn space satellites into a giant cloud server.

China and Russia Plan to Build a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon by 2035 Leaving the US Behind

A new kind of space race unfolds on the moon's south pole.

A Decade After The Martian, Hollywood’s Mars Timeline Is Falling Apart

NASA hasn’t landed humans on Mars yet. But thanks to robotic missions, scientists now know more about the planet’s surface than they did when the movie was released.