Secretive US military spaceplane launched into orbit by SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket
On Thursday evening, SpaceX successfully launched the US Space Force’s secretive space plane into orbit using the Falcon Heavy rocket. This marked the first time that the Boeing Co.-built experimental spacecraft was sent into space using this powerful rocket.
The launch, which started at 8:07 p.m. local time began the seventh mission for the Space Force’s secret X-37B space plane. Shaped like a mini-space shuttle, the X-37B is an unmanned and reusable experimental test platform that the Department of Defense uses in orbit, sometimes for years at a time.
Before the launch, which took place on Thursday after several previous delays, the X-37B’s most recent mission launched in May 2020, spending a record 908 days in orbit. The vehicle’s mission ended in November 2022 when the X-37B returned from space and glided onto the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility.
What the X-37B actually does in orbit is not entirely clear. During the vehicle’s final mission, the spacecraft conducted a number of experiments, including a study for NASA that looked at how seeds respond to being in space for long periods of time and how certain materials fare in space.
The U.S. Space Force has released limited details about the X-37B’s current mission. It “expands the USSF’s knowledge of the space environment for future space information technologies,” the Space Force said in a statement.
The latest mission was the second time the X-37B has flown on a SpaceX vehicle. The spacecraft was also launched on top of the Falcon 9 in 2017.
