A secretive military spacecraft that will replace the space shuttle orbiter flew to Florida in the belly of a cargo plane. The The X-37B/OTV spacecraft will undergo final processing for launch on April 19.
The 29-foot-long, 15-foot-wide Orbital Test Vehicle arrived in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday, according to the Air Force. The OTV space plane was built at a Boeing Phantom Works facility in California. the existing space shuttle has been compared to a Winnebago while the X-37, which is far smaller, has been compared to a sports car.
Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the OTV program is shrouded in secrecy, but military officials occasionally release information on the the spaceplane's progress. It likely has a mission that support the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). It will probably both launche and retrieve sensitive intelligence gathering satellites.
The 11,000-pound vehicle will be launched inside the nose cone of the Atlas 5 rocket. Liftoff is currently set for April 19.
The design is based on the orbital and re-entry demonstrator initially developed by NASA, then handed over to the Pentagon.
The NASA version of the X-37 featured an equipment bay that was 7 feet long and 4 feet in diameter. It was to be used for experiments and deployable payloads such as reconnaissance and surveillance satellites.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed a series of approach and landing tests in 2007 using the White Knight airplane from Scaled Composites as the mothership.
Florida politicians are worried the end of the shuttle program could affect nine thousand jobs at Cape Canaveral when the Space Shuttle is retired. Similar layoffs occurred in the 1970s when the cape became a virtual ghost town.
source: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/air-force-space-plane-test-sfn-100403.html
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The 29-foot-long, 15-foot-wide Orbital Test Vehicle arrived in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday, according to the Air Force. The OTV space plane was built at a Boeing Phantom Works facility in California. the existing space shuttle has been compared to a Winnebago while the X-37, which is far smaller, has been compared to a sports car.
Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the OTV program is shrouded in secrecy, but military officials occasionally release information on the the spaceplane's progress. It likely has a mission that support the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). It will probably both launche and retrieve sensitive intelligence gathering satellites.
The 11,000-pound vehicle will be launched inside the nose cone of the Atlas 5 rocket. Liftoff is currently set for April 19.
The design is based on the orbital and re-entry demonstrator initially developed by NASA, then handed over to the Pentagon.
The NASA version of the X-37 featured an equipment bay that was 7 feet long and 4 feet in diameter. It was to be used for experiments and deployable payloads such as reconnaissance and surveillance satellites.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed a series of approach and landing tests in 2007 using the White Knight airplane from Scaled Composites as the mothership.
Florida politicians are worried the end of the shuttle program could affect nine thousand jobs at Cape Canaveral when the Space Shuttle is retired. Similar layoffs occurred in the 1970s when the cape became a virtual ghost town.
source: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/air-force-space-plane-test-sfn-100403.html
ubscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 7793 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
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