United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched yesterday, May 17, an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane. X-37B is an autonomous reusable spaceplane sent to low Earth orbit for long missions that can last up to two years.
The X-37B is made by Boeing, and this is its sixth mission. The spaceplane in turn will deploy a small research satellite dubbed FalconSat-8, to carry out additional experiments.
“This X-37B mission will host more experiments than any prior missions,” said Barrett, who also heads the recently created US Space Force.
ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno said that “The details of the vehicle, the mission it will do on orbit, and where it will go, all that is classified.” The live broadcast was stopped early so as not to provide "adversaries too much data about the flight," said Bruno. Only the first 7 minutes were shown.
The X-37B is 9m long, with a wing span of 4.5m. When the X-37B completes its mission, it autonomously cruises back to Earth and lands on a runway.
