Air Force sends mystery mini-shuttle back to space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A top-secret mini-space shuttle has blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
The Air Force launched the unmanned spacecraft Tuesday aboard an Atlas V rocket.
It's the second flight for this original X-37B spaceplane. It circled the planet for seven months in 2010. A second X-37B spacecraft spent more than a year in orbit.
These mystery machines are about one-quarter the size of NASA's old space shuttles and they can land automatically on a runway.
The military isn't saying much if anything about this new secret mission. But one scientific observer, Harvard University's Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speculates the spaceplane is carrying sensors designed for spying and likely is serving as a testbed.
The two previous secret flights were in roughly 200-plus-mile-high orbits.
This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.