What is the orbit of the X-37B?
There is no word on when and where OTV-6 will return to Earth. According to a Boeing fact sheet, “the X-37B is one of the world’s newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft, designed to operate in low-earth orbit, 150 to 500 miles above the Earth.
What does the X-37B do?
“Sophisticated and uncrewed, the X-37B advances reusable spaceplane technologies and operates experiments in space that are returned for further examination on earth,” Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said in a statement.
Where is the X-37B?
All X-37B missions to date have launched from Florida’s Space Coast — either Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which is right next door. But the space plane has landing sites on both sides of the continent.
Does the U.S. have space ships?
Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft, built to take humans farther into space than they’ve ever gone before. It will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew and provide a safe return to Earth.
Does Space Force have ships?
The Space Force is the smallest U.S. armed service, consisting of 8,400 military personnel and operating 77 spacecraft.
Does the US Space Force use guns?
One response to these trends was the creation of the US Space Force as an independent military service. But the US wants to do more to show that it shouldn’t be messed with in space. Right now, the US only acknowledges one space weapon—a ground-based communications jammer to interfere with signals sent from satellites.
Can you join Space Force?
Joining Space Force As A Military Member There are two ways you can join Space Force as a military member: those who have already passed Basic Training and are in Air Force careers may transfer into Space Force depending on time in grade, time in service, Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) and other variables.
What is the Boeing X-37B spacecraft?
The Boeing X-37B, also called X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle – OTV – is a reusable unmanned spacecraft that is manufactured by Boeing and operated by the United States Air Force. It is delivered to orbit on top of an Expendable Launch Vehicle and spends several months in orbit before returning to Earth as a spaceplane gliding to a landing on a runway.
What does the X-37B Orbital test vehicle look like?
With its bullet-like shape, stubby wings, and two tone black and white appearance, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle looks like a smaller, cuter version of the manned orbiter that served NASA for decades.
Why is the X-37B so secret?
The X-37B is, above all, a test aircraft and in that respect is exactly what the Air Force says it is. It is far more likely that the secrecy behind the OTV missions is not because the service is testing weapons but technologies that go into equally—if not more secret—spy satellites.
Where did the X-37B land?
After 718 days in space, the OTV-4 mission ended with a smooth runway landing on May 7, 2017. It was the first X-37B landing at NASA’s Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The three previous missions landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.