United States Air Force’s secretive robotic space plane took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a mystery mission that is expected to take months.
X-37 is an unpiloted space plane that resembles a miniature space shuttle and is equipped with its own payload bay. It was built by Boeing Phantom Works that is intended to test future launch technologies while in orbit and during atmospheric re-entry.
“It’s on auto-pilot, literally, the entire time the rest of the way in,” said Gary Payton, US Air Force deputy under secretary for Space Programs, adding that the Air Force is ready in case the spacecraft malfunctions.
The duration of the mission has not been announced, although an Air Force spokesperson has said the vehicle has a requirement to be on-orbit for up to 270 days.
“This is a new way for the Air Force to conduct on-orbit experiments,” said Payton.
“In all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back for sure. It depends on the progress that we make with the on-orbit demonstrations,” he added.
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