X-37B Mystery Spacecraft Turns 1 in Earth's Orbit. According to officials with the United States Air Force (USAF), the last X-37B space plane to be launched in Earth's orbit recently exceeded the mission's 1-year milestone. This is the third of these spacecraft to be launched over the last few years on classified missions for the United States. Speculations about what these space planes are doing in low-Earth orbit abound, and range from space weapon testbeds and orbital surveillance systems to new technology demonstrators and peaceful applications. Up until now, the USAF has kept mum about the capabilities of its new spacecraft. The third flight of the X-37B is called the Orbital Test Vehicle 3 (OTV-3) mission, and it launched into space aboard an Atlas V rocket on December 11, 2012.
Takeoff occurred from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida, located next door to the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The spacecraft was developed from the Boeing X-40 concept, and three variants have been proposed to date. Boeing Moving X-37B Operations To the Kennedy Space Center. The X-37B: Exploring expanded capabilities for ISS missions. March 12, 2013 by Chris Gebhardt As NASA and its new commercial partners continue to push toward the era of realized commercial crew transportation to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Boeing has released a paper detailing the potentiality of expanding the capabilities of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B reusable space plane for cargo and crewed missions to LEO – a proposal, which for unknown reasons, appears to have been pushed aside by NASA’s commercial space division. What could have been – A reusable space plane for the commercial era: As stated a Boeing presentation (acquired by L2), the concept of utilizing the X-37B as part of NASA’s COTS and CCDev programs stemmed from the idea that the program would be able to “realize cost savings and acceleration of technology developmental timelines by focusing on the payload.
Development of a mini-Shuttle – The X-37B comes to life: Adapting the X-37 design to the age of commercial space endeavours: Making the case for X-37 ISS operations: Share This Article. Delta Launch Report.
Exclusive: Antitrust probe of Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture. FTC Investigating United Launch Alliance. Exclusive: Antitrust probe of Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating whether United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, violated federal antitrust laws by "monopolizing" or restraining competition through an exclusivity agreement with the maker of the engines used in its rockets, according to a FTC document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
RD Amross, a joint venture of Russia's NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp, provides RD-180 engines for ULA rockets. Industry sources say ULA is preventing RD Amross from selling the engines to other rocket makers, including Orbital Sciences Corp, which is trying to break into the lucrative market for government rocket launches. " >US defense satellite to be launched from Calif. Subscribe us if you like this video. Lots of fun for you and your family, enjoy and share our channel Un sacco di divertimento per voi e la vostra famiglia, godere e condividere il nostro canale... Third time lucky! SpaceX launches first commercial communications satellite in orbit The launch could be a game changer for the satellite industry Launch c...
SpaceX lifts off on its first commercial satellite launch An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket developed by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, blasted off to ... An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket developed by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, blasted off on Tuesday (December 3) to put the company's first commercial... United Launch Alliance. United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. U.S. government launch customers include both the Department of Defense and NASA, as well as other organizations. ULA provides launch services using three expendable launch systems – Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas V. The Atlas and Delta launch system families have been used for more than 50 years to carry a variety of payloads including weather, telecommunications and national security satellites, as well as deep space and interplanetary exploration missions in support of scientific research.
ULA has also provided launch services for non-government satellites. History[edit] ULA's headquarters building in Centennial, Colorado SpaceX challenged the antitrust legality of the launch services monopoly on October 23, 2005. Facilities[edit] Launches[edit] See also[edit]