But nothing like the blue marble that has been displayed for years.
Posted on 02/25/2025 2:40:37 AM PST by Libloather
For the first time, we’re seeing an image from the record-breaking US military space plane while in Earth orbit.
Over the weekend, the US Space Force shared a photo taken by the spacecraft X-37B during its most recent secret mission.
It’s the first operational image shared while the space plane is in orbit.
The image shows part of the space plane, the blue marble of Earth and the darkness of space.
“An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024,” the US Space Force wrote on X.
“The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel.”
The space plane is an orbital test platform for different experimentation missions, some of which are classified.
Its seventh mission, known as OTV-7, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2023 and included both unclassified and classified experiments.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I remember when Frances Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR. In the press it was said the US had such sophisticated cameras on aircraft that we could take a photo from space of a person reading a newspaper on the ground and tell what that newspaper said.
Not if the orbit is highly eccentric.
Maybe we live on a kind of cosmic monkey-island. And every once in a while ET tosses something shiny onto it just for yucks.
Indeed
Elon has already said he offered to get them down last year and was denied by NASA and the Biden administration.
“Elon has already said he offered to get them down last year and was denied by NASA and the Biden administration.”
Understood. But Biden is no longer in. And Elon has had two or three launches since Trump took office and control of NASA. The astronauts are begging to come home. I would think that would be a priority. Can Elon walk and chew gum at the same time?
Did you notice it wasn't blue? Not to mention it is pretty flat on the right side.
Nasa is waiting for the regular crew rotation to bring suni/butch back. i believe its only another 25 days or so.
Pretty awesome. I think we’re going to find out a few things over the next four years.
The oceans are dark blue on my screen. But they took a shot of Africa as covering most of what we see. You can see the Sahara on the northern most part of that green/tan landmass.
As for the shape distortion I know the moon pulls the earth egg shaped but I don’t think that much... Must be some lens distortion there.
But nothing like the blue marble that has been displayed for years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.