| X-37B, the U.S. Air Force's |
|
|
 X-37B, the U.S. Air Force's top secret, unmanned space shuttle has returned to Earth after 225 days. What it has done during these months in orbit is unknown. Amateur astronomers have partially succeeded in tracing it, and have observed four major course changes. The nearly ten-meter-long shuttle has great cargo space. The owner, Air Force Space Command, has consistently refused to comment on what it has to work. Probably it can deploy satellites and itself act as a mobile reconnaissance platform. Possibly it can be used to hunt other satellites, or even carry weapons. Union of Concerned Scientists and other observers have protested against the secrecy, which they believe could trigger a race among major powers to place weapons in space. Air Force's success has attracted interest from the U.S. civilian space industry. A group of stakeholders has managed to take one of the NASA-like prototypes, X-34, out of mothballs. It is now undergoing a rapid investigation to see if, after a decade in the hangar still can be used for test flights. When the X-37B broken at Vandenberg Air Force Base was the second time in history, someone managed to land an unmanned space shuttle. Pioneers, the Soviet Union with its Burn shuttle-1988th Boeing is working on a second copy of the X-37B that will be flight ready in the spring. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
