X-37B US miltary spaceplane returns to Earth
BBC News
By Paul Rincon
December 3, 2010
A prototype spaceplane built for the US military has returned to Earth after seven months in orbit [on a classified mission].
The unpiloted X-37B touched down at Vandenberg Air Force base in California …
X-37B Space Plane (photo: US Air Force)
The project has been shrouded in secrecy, prompting widespread speculation about the craft’s purpose.
The Air Force has not said whether it carried anything in its cargo bay, but insists the primary purpose of the mission was to test the craft itself. …
Jeremy Eggers, an Air Force spokesman based at Vandenberg said the craft is expected to return to space in Spring 2011. …
The Boeing-built spacecraft returned to Earth on “auto-pilot”; the successful return marks the first autonomous re-entry and landing in the recorded history of the US space programme.
Because the X-37B (also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, OTV-1) started life as a Nasa programme, the Air Force is in a position to talk openly about the craft’s design, but its precise purpose remains classified. …
Read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11911335
