Posted on 03/22/2012 9:00:20 PM PDT by U-238
What payloads are aboard the Air Force’s X-37B space plane, which has been orbiting the Earth for more than a year, remains top secret.
Gen. William L. Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, was peppered with questions about its purpose at a gathering of Washington, D.C.-based defense reporters March 22. He remained tight-lipped about the mystery spacecraft’s mission, but did say that the service has no intention of purchasing any more of the winged, reusable vehicles, which resemble a smaller version of NASA’s now returned space shuttle.
“It is doing very well on orbit,” he said. “It has had a successful mission and we are very happy with it.”
The Air Force wants to continue to use the X-37B, he added. The Air Force has not determined a reentry date yet for the spacecraft currently circling the globe, he added. The Air Force has two vehicles, which are designed to remain in orbit for about 270 days. The first X-37B launched April 22, 2010, and remained in orbit until Dec. 3 that year. The second was sent to orbit March 5, 2011, and has now long exceeded its original 270-day specifications.
The Boeing-built spacecraft began its life as a NASA program, with the Air Force contributing some development funds. It was originally conceived as a vehicle that could robotically refuel or repair satellites. Once NASA decided to drop the program, it was transferred to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and then to the Air Force, where it became a top secret, or “black” program.
Shelton said there are no plans to develop a larger X-37B spacecraft.
The Air Force is looking to “sustain this capability for quite sometime.”
“There certainly is no plan that we can afford to increase the fleet size,” he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaldefensemagazine.org ...
Ping.
Whatever they reveal today they’ve had for 20 years and what they hint at they’ve had for 10 years. They’d been talking about space planes, scramjets and ramjets long before I left the service in 1983.
ping
What is the Mission?
“Few details have been revealed about the mission, which is a semi-secret test flight. As this author has suggested for years, there are really two missions going on at once. The first mission is a test of the X-37B vehicle and the components used to make it. This is all about testing new technology that will find their way into future re-useable spacecraft.
The second mission concerns some unidentified objects in the spacecraft’s small payload bay. This writer believes that these are satellite parts undergoing endurance testing for America’s National Reconnaissance Office, the shadowy organization behind America’s spy satellites.”
Space Travel Exploration and Tourism http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Birthday_Cake_for_X_37B_999.html
What a good cover story, they cannot get it down, so it is doing a good job. LOL
.....they cannot get it down,.....
That makes sense.
I do not think its a cover story. I strongly believe that its an endurance test.They want to know how long they can keep the spacecraft in orbit.
Probably some interesting stuff going on behind the curtain for sure.
But now we have the technology. Back then, this stuff was all theoretical.They probably have it now in secret air bases such as Edwards and Groom Lake.
Now that would make Amazon.com happy.
LOL. The X-37 is the USAF’s dream toy. It can be used as spy satellite, deliver weapons into space, and examine other countries satellites.
This is exciting U-238.
Have you seen this space plane or just read about it?
I have followed the project for quite a while.
Chances are 99.99% that dear leader has told the Soviets (who are now officially back in business) all the secrets about it...
I agree with that. I hope that the USAF and DARPA is keeping a very tight lid on this.
What payloads are aboard the Air Force’s X-37B space plane, which has been orbiting the Earth for more than a year, remains top secret....12 tons of pork, to be dropped on as yet unnamed countries. George Noory told me. Ed Danes verified it.
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Translation: we would like to buy more space vehicles, but due to the severe budgets cuts already implemented and still more severe ones to come, plus the tremendous cost of the F-35, we will have to make due with what we have.
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