Air Force's mysterious space plane lands, wakes up Florida

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Air Force's mysterious space plane lands, wakes up Florida

The Air Force's unmanned aircraft, X-37B, landed successfully Sunday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center -- but it didn't come down quietly.

The space plane sent a sonic boom that rattled east-central Florida before 8 a.m., waking residents from their weekend slumber.

"Thought somebody crashed into my garage ... It was just a sonic boom ... Thanks @NASA for the scare!" said one woman on Twitter.

The X-37B, which looks like a small plane, made history by landing for the first time in Florida instead of California. It also set the on-orbit endurance record at 718 days, or almost two years.

"Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today's safe and successful landing of the X-37B," said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith in a press release.

So what was this unmanned aircraft doing in space that long? There's been mystery surrounding this question for many years.

The Air Force maintains that the reusable plane "performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies."

But many speculate about other possible uses, including spying activities or testing of a secret space weapon.

This completed mission extends the program to 2,085 days in space.

The Air Force is preparing to launch the fifth X-37B mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later in 2017.


 
Chlorate said:
Cool, I wonder if they can get it to 1000 days next time.
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Scientists have speculated for a long time about sending a heavily populated craft, towards the nearest solar system.

The draw back has always been about how to get such a large ship to launch from earth; because of the amount of fuel necessary, to escape earth's gravity.

If they're able to use something like this, to transport various unassembled sections into outer space; then something could be assembled, while in orbit.

With no need to escape the gravitational pull, it can be built in any shape necessary - maybe even a small replica of a borg cube or a giant sphere.
 
Considering the distance to Andromeda, I wouldn't recommend them sending any manned spacecraft toward it. It would be like the voyage in Passengers.
 
I didn't hear it, and Iam up and about that early..i'm in orlando

I do miss the sonic booms of the space shuttle -twin *BOOMS*...they were very comforting
 
Chlorate said:
Considering the distance to Andromeda, I wouldn't recommend them sending any manned spacecraft toward it. It would be like the voyage in Passengers.
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That's been the idea since Sci-Fi books first wrote about such.

It would take "generations"; but think of the adventure.
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
That's been the idea since Sci-Fi books first wrote about such.

It would take "generations"; but think of the adventure.
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If I lived in a different era, perhaps I'd have the opportunity to take an adventure onboard the Millennium Falcon. That not being the case, I'd much rather read about these adventures from the comfort of Earth. :D
 
Chlorate said:
If I lived in a different era, perhaps I'd have the opportunity to take an adventure onboard the Millennium Falcon. That not being the case, I'd much rather read about these adventures from the comfort of Earth. :D
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I would love to "walk among the stars" - to travel where no man has gone before.
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
Scientists have speculated for a long time about sending a heavily populated craft, towards the nearest solar system.

The draw back has always been about how to get such a large ship to launch from earth; because of the amount of fuel necessary, to escape earth's gravity.

If they're able to use something like this, to transport various unassembled sections into outer space; then something could be assembled, while in orbit.

With no need to escape the gravitational pull, it can be built in any shape necessary - maybe even a small replica of a borg cube or a giant sphere.
Click to expand...

A cube and a sphere are very different things.

The sphere is what they'd need...well that and a fuel source.
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
Scientists have speculated for a long time about sending a heavily populated craft, towards the nearest solar system.

The draw back has always been about how to get such a large ship to launch from earth; because of the amount of fuel necessary, to escape earth's gravity.

If they're able to use something like this, to transport various unassembled sections into outer space; then something could be assembled, while in orbit.

With no need to escape the gravitational pull, it can be built in any shape necessary - maybe even a small replica of a borg cube or a giant sphere.
Click to expand...

A cube and a sphere are very different things.

The sphere is what they'd need...well that and a fuel source.
 
Guille said:
A cube and a sphere are very different things.

The sphere is what they'd need...well that and a fuel source.
Click to expand...

I know they're different.
I was just using them as examples.

They could use solar sails and once they get "up to speed"; there's no drag to slow them down, so the sails can be retracted.

Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails) are a form of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A useful analogy may be a sailing boat; the light exerting a force on the mirrors is akin to a sail being blown by the wind. High-energy laser beams could be used as an alternative light source to exert much greater force than would be possible using sunlight,...

What's needed, is a way to defend / deflect from space debris like small meteors. :eek2:
 
 
Combover said:
Considering the distance to Andromeda, I wouldn't recommend them sending any manned spacecraft toward it. It would be like the voyage in Passengers.
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He said solar system not galaxy, Andromeda is over two million light years away. Even so, the nearest potentially habitable planet Proxima Centauri is over four light years from Earth.

Sent from my Lenovo K52e78 using Tapatalk
 
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