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Here’s Everything We Know About The Mysterious Air Force Plane That Just Landed, 2 Years In Space
Business Insider ^ | 5-8-2017 | Christopher Woody

Posted on 05/08/2017 10:28:21 AM PDT by blam

The US military's X-37B space plane landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, ending its record-breaking 718-day orbit with a sonic boom during its first landing in Florida.

The US Air Force has two X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles, which it calls its newest and most advanced reentry spacecraft.

At 29 feet long and with a 14-foot wingspan, the planes are about one-quarter of the size of NASA's now retired space shuttles and have a cargo bay about the size of a pick-up truck's.

The first X-37 program started in 1999, and the X-37B first flew in April 2010, returning after eight months in flight.

The next mission, launched in March 2011, was 15 months long, and the third mission in December 2012 lasted 22 months.

"Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B," Air Force Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, the commander of the 45th Space Wing, said in a release.

The most recent X-37B mission, launched in May 2015, brings the orbital test vehicle program to a total of 2,085 days spent in orbit.

Amateur astronomers have been able to spot the craft through telescopes and observed it at relatively low altitudes — a little less than 200 miles up, according to some, which is lower than the International Space Station.

What the X-37Bs have doing during those 2,085 days in orbit is less clear, however.

The X-37B program "performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies," the Air Force said in its release.

The Air Force has said the program is testing "advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airforce; ksc; militaryspace; nasa; second100days; space; spave; trump45; usaf; x37b
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To: ClearCase_guy


41 posted on 05/08/2017 10:54:45 AM PDT by blam
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To: Army Air Corps
Have you recovered, or do you still suffer horrifying flashbacks?

It made me the mental basket case I am today. Oh, and when we hit the States the connector flight was showing Beaches. When yer number's up, it's really up. I got a lot of reading in...

42 posted on 05/08/2017 10:55:14 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: ClearCase_guy

And GPR/Xrays to see inside KJU’s two sats. If they need to be taken out to deep space, we’ll need proof of why we did it. Only Iran and Cuba will care, anyway.


43 posted on 05/08/2017 10:58:54 AM PDT by txhurl (BOOM BOOM! - what is it - :)
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To: BillyBonebrake

“:^)


44 posted on 05/08/2017 10:59:22 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Happy days are here again!)
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To: Billthedrill
Oh, and when we hit the States the connector flight was showing Beaches.

Ishtar followed by Beaches?! Isn't there some mention of that being illegal under the Geneva Convention? You are made of strong timber, sir!
45 posted on 05/08/2017 10:59:37 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Red Badger

Hopefully it’s mining our potential enemies satellites.

One push of a button and they all disintegrate.

I’d say they all go boom but space is a vacuum.


46 posted on 05/08/2017 11:00:22 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Deportation mayhem is just birthing pains for a new America.)
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To: blam
Here’s Everything We Know About The Mysterious Air Force Plane That Just Landed, 2 Years In Space

Seems we really don't know all that much...

47 posted on 05/08/2017 11:00:27 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Happy days are here again!)
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To: blam

bkmk


48 posted on 05/08/2017 11:00:29 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Let’s just hypothetically say we DO have Rods from God.

Currently such devices are not banned by international treaty.

Should one be used, however, you can be certain that the dust would not even have settled and there would be motions at the UN to ban such a device.

It would mean that we would only have one shot at using them, so it better be a damned important target.

This would only be a concern if we actually had Rods from God, which we don’t.

I promise.


49 posted on 05/08/2017 11:00:29 AM PDT by Crusher138 ("Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just")
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To: DoughtyOne

I see a stake body truck in the background. There must be sheep or goats involved. Start a rumor.


50 posted on 05/08/2017 11:00:46 AM PDT by Tucker39 (Known as the Father of modern agriculture)
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To: Tucker39

Ah, maybe it’s miniature sheep or goats.


51 posted on 05/08/2017 11:03:00 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Happy days are here again!)
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To: Rebelbase

I’ve heard meteors go ‘POP’ when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere.................


52 posted on 05/08/2017 11:03:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: Tucker39
There must be sheep or goats involved.

Alien visitors from the planet Mohair V.
53 posted on 05/08/2017 11:03:47 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: nikos1121

Yes, and don’t call me Shirley................


54 posted on 05/08/2017 11:04:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: Crusher138

What if... the UN were to contract a sudden case of titanium poisoning right before they convened to outlaw them? If we ever developed them, of course.


55 posted on 05/08/2017 11:05:47 AM PDT by txhurl (BOOM BOOM! - what is it - :)
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To: Gman
"Germ-proof suits as vehicle sits on open tarmac... must be a government operation..."

Not germ-proof.....poison gas proof. The shuttle (and from the pic), this spaceplane, used (I think), nitrous oxide and hydrazine for maneuvering jets. Both highly toxic. Any residual has to be bled from the tanks and vented.

56 posted on 05/08/2017 11:05:49 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel and NRA Life Member)
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To: blam

They ought to make a bigger one of these that can haul people and stuff.........................


57 posted on 05/08/2017 11:07:00 AM PDT by Red Badger (Profanity is the sound of an ignorant mind trying to express itself.............)
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To: blam

That machine must have some kind of magic gyroscope fake horizon in that instrument panel!!!!!!

Everyone knows that fake horizon thingy is much better than the real horizon. LOL


58 posted on 05/08/2017 11:07:11 AM PDT by Cats Pajamas
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To: blam

Boeing Built that!!


59 posted on 05/08/2017 11:07:56 AM PDT by Davy Crocket
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To: blam

I heard the sonic boom in Central Florida


60 posted on 05/08/2017 11:10:33 AM PDT by DocRock (And now is the time to fight! Peter Muhlenberg)
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