X-37's first flight test announced by USAF

[SiberianTiger]

That's to happen in April, 2010
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Space-Shuttle-Jr.html

 

[Arthur Dent]

Yay! A Spaceplane!

 

[Star Voyager]

Ah, you beat me to it, ST. Here is another article:

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0911/24otv/

If the Air Force decides to outfit this for manned flight, sign me up :thumbup:!

 

[Shadow Addict]

Wow, this is pretty exciting. I'm surprised it's actually happening.

 

[Ark]

Looks like the Air Force is finally getting their wish.

 

[zerofay32]

I don't know. The whole concept still seems too "cold war era" to me. But I hope it flies at least once in orbit, unlike all the others.

 

[jinglesassy]

why do i think this will end up like buran canceled after 1 flight

 

[PhantomCruiser]

It does seem like a "purpose built" craft. But I seem to remember the Air Force wanting control of the Shuttle in it's infancy, as well as several "top secret" shuttle flights.
Maybe we'll se this on Orbiter Hanger soon?

 

[Star Voyager]

Already, yes:

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3574"]Boeing X-37[/ame]


---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------

I don't know. The whole concept still seems too "cold war era" to me.

What do you mean? America has plenty of enemies we can spy on. Why do you think I would love to fly it ?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Sweet! Plus launcher, thanks for the link! I can't search Orbiter Hanger from work. It's blocked for some reason.

 

[Andy44]

What do you mean? America has plenty of enemies we can spy on. Why do you think I would love to fly it ?

Hooray for enemies!

Seriously, though, this will be interesting to see.

 

[Ark]

How is it that the Air Force didn't get this a long time ago? They can afford the ludicrous price tags of B-2s and F-22s, these things should be cheap by comparison.

 

[SiberianTiger]

It's interesting what launch azimuths and orbit altitudes will be achievable for the bird. Can it do a close-up inspection of Cosmos-2455, for instance? If yes, I foresee an interesting development of orbit dodging tactics...

 

[Suzy]

It's unmanned, though:

Unlike Dyna-Soar, the X-37 will always be unmanned. Without humans who would limit the amount of time it could orbit, the little spaceplane might be able to stay aloft for as long as nine months. Operationally, the X-37 could become a space version of a long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle—the world's first space UAV.

Would it go to LEO only?

 

[Ark]

Would it go to LEO only?

There's no Russians on the moon to bomb or spy on.

It's the Air Force, everything they use it for will be military.

 

[Suzy]

Would it be able to carry a nuclear payload? (Though I guess that info would be classified! )

 

[Ark]

I'd assume so, your average MIRV is about the size of a person. Seems stupid, though, to bother loading one into an X-37 when we've got missiles that can deliver them anywhere you could think of.

 

[Suzy]

ICBM's are ballistic and can't be redirected once launched (as far as I know) - maybe a spaceplane could be useful there?

(Nuke it from orbit! )

 

[SiberianTiger]

 

[BrianJ]

I still wonder if there will be a 2nd stage on the AtlasV launch vehicle. In Orbiter it's possible to launch the X-37 to LEO just using the AtlasV core.