SpaceX to launch Air Force X-37B top-secret mini-shuttle

Falcon 9 rocket to carry spaceship into orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A month after the U.S. military's secretive X-37B spaceship landed at Kennedy Space Center, bringing an unexpected sonic boom to Central Florida, the Air Force announced that the spacecraft's next mission will launch in August aboard a SpaceX rocket.

SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch one of the Air Force's two X-37Bs, reusable aircraft that have spent a combined 2,000-plus days over the Earth on four previous flights.

United Launch Alliance boosted the first four X-37B missions into low Earth orbit on Atlas V rockets. 

"The ability to launch the Orbital Test Vehicle on multiple platforms will ensure a robust launch capability for our experiment designers," said Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. "We are excited about this new partnership on creating flexible and responsive launch options and are confident in SpaceX's ability to provide safe and assured access to space for the X-37B program."

The Air Force did not specify which of its two reusable X-37B mini-shuttles, operated by Boeing, would launch next, although one has only just returned from a record-setting 718-day mission.

Walden said the fifth mission would include tests of experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. Most of the activities are classified.

SpaceX has a handful of launches on its schedule before the X-37B mission in August, primarily carrying commercial communications satellites into space. 

The X-37B weighs about 11,000 pounds and has typically orbited Earth at altitudes between 200 and 250 miles.

 


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