Wednesday, June 7, 2017
SpaceX Wins Launch Contract For Secretive Air Force Space Plane
Los Angeles-based rocket and spacecraft developer SpaceX has scored a new launch contract, for the U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane, the USAF announced on Tuesday. According to the Air Force, the SpaceX will launcha mission in August to put the space plane back into orbit. Financial details of the new launch contract for SpaceX were not announced. The Air Force's X-37B looks like a miniature version of the Space Shuttle. The mission will be the fifth flight of the reusable X-37, which was built by Boeing. The prior missions for the X-37 have had the robotic device orbiting the Earth for more than 2,000 days, before a runway landing; three of those prior missions had been at Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the rest are planned now in Florida at NASA Kennedy. The new launch adds to an already busy schedule for SpaceX, which has its next two flights scheduled for June 25th and July 1st.