Space Force launch sends the X-37B space plane on a new mission
The X-37B is ready to go.
U.S. Space Force
Wednesday, the U.S. Space Force announced its second launch since becoming the newest branch of the American military in December: launch into orbit X-37B room level on May 16 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The autonomous spacecraft took off on Sunday at 9:14 a.m.CET, about 24 hours after bad weather conditions forced the launch to be postponed on Saturday.
US Air Force secretary Barbara Barrett, who oversaw the X-37B program, announced the start On her Twitter page, she called the mission “a prime example of government-industry partnerships to improve the national security area.”
The unscrewed spaceship, which looks like a mini-space shuttle, has been a secret Air Force project for years, which stays in orbit for up to two years per flight, who knows what. This first X-37B flight under the Space Force offers a new window into some parts of the mission.
Barrett said the spacecraft would use a small satellite called the FalconSat-8, which will conduct multiple experiments on behalf of the Air Force, NASA, and the U.S. Naval Research Lab. The experiments examine, among other things, the effects of radiation on seeds and the conversion of solar energy into frequencies that could be transmitted to the surface.
Barrett announced the next flight of the X-37B during one Live foundation event of the Space Foundation, alongside the chief of space force, General John “Jay” Raymond.
“This will be the first X-37B mission to use a service module to conduct experiments,” said Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. said in an accompanying publication.
X-37B maker Boeing sent a short tweet on Wednesday Video shows the room level to go through his steps.
The first launch of the Space Force took place in March when a National Security Communications Satellite fired from Cape Canaveral.
The U.S. Space Force was pushed aside by President Trump for the first time in 2018 during a speech and officially founded in December 2019. The Space Force, the first new division of the U.S. Armed Forces in decades, is under the supervision of the Secretary of the Air Force.
The The last X-37B mission ended in October when the spacecraft – there are two of them – landed in orbit after 780 days. In total, the two orbital vehicles have spent seven years and ten months (or 2,865 days) orbiting the Earth over five missions.
Look at that:
The United States gets a space force
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