The Space Force’s X-37 is ready to return to orbit. The secretive spaceplane is set to blast off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at around 11:50 p.m. local time on Aug. 21.
X-37B
The X-37B spaceplane is heading back into orbit for its eighth mission next month, the Space Force announced July 28. Its latest flight will experiment with technologies that may prove crucial to the service’s future.
X-37B, the Space Force’s secretive spaceplane, returned to Earth early March 7 after more than a year in orbit, touching down at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., the service announced on social media, saying the spacecraft “successfully deorbited and landed” at 2:22 a.m. local time.
“Watch me do this kickflip” is essentially what top Space Force officials said on Oct. 10 when they announced the secretive X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will soon start aerobraking, a maneuver where an orbiting space vehicle dips into the atmosphere...
A detailed guide to the aircraft, aerial target systems, weapons systems, and satellite systems in USAF and USSF inventory.
Multiple delays and scrubbed launches have kept the Space Force’s X-37B from returning to orbit this week. But after suggesting several years ago the secretive space plane may be on its way out, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman indicated its future is brighter ...
The Pentagon is now taking a longer view of Beijing’s military plans and development, shifting from a near-term focus to mid-century, when China plans to be the world’s dominant superpower.
Randall G. Walden, head of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, where he has directed development of the B-21 bomber and the Advanced Battle Management System, is moving to a new job at the Pentagon to advise the Defense Department's acquisition and sustainment chief, William ...
A Space Force X-37B reusable space plane surpassed 780 days in space July 7, eclipsing its prior endurance record. X-37B missions have grown progressively longer over time. OTV-1 lasted 224 days in 2010. OTV-5 had set the record of 780 days, remaining in space from ...
The ultimate goal was to take off from Earth, fly a mission through space, reenter the atmosphere, and land on a runway.
The Air Force Research Laboratory will soon have the first operational oscillating heat pipes flying in space, marking the first operational application of fourth-generation spacecraft thermal control. The technology, which was previously tested aboard the secretive X-37B reusable spaceplane, is expected to be used in ...
Will Roper spawned a revolution in acquisition as USAF’s procurement chief. Will his innovations survive?
