Video: X-37 Space Plane Lands After Nearly 2 Years in Orbit
Video Caption: The Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission 4 landed at NASA ‘s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017. Managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the X-37B program is the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft that performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
7 responses to “Video: X-37 Space Plane Lands After Nearly 2 Years in Orbit”
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Someday really cool books are going to be written about the X-37 programme.
Humm winged spaceship launched by the USAF spending YEARS in space before returning to Earth’s surface….. Getting closer to some ultra cheesy sci-fi from the late 70’s.
There’s going to be some PhD thesis’ I’ll want to read after this program is declassified. Starting with ultra long term non-toxic RCS and OMS fuels.
You think Col. Deering forced it to land? 🙂
She was mighty young to be an O-6. Then again Chicago was not occupying Iraq. I saw mid 30 something O-6s galore on the DC metro between the Pentagon City and Braddock Rd stops during the early 21st Cen. But who know’s maybe in the 25th Cen 85, is the new 25.
Nah–Ranger 3 was a jacked up Buran–this thing is a toy. 😉
http://www.fantastic-plasti…
Given the chemical suits the ground crews are wearing, it seems likely those RCS and OMS propellants are the same toxic hypergolics that have been used for decades. They’re nasty chemicals to be sure, but long-term handling isn’t a problem with them.
I was under the impression X-37 used H2O2 … if so, I guess in a concentration high enough to warrant the suits. Or perhaps the USAF follows OSHA guidelines religiously? N2O4/UDMH would also make sense as those systems last decades, and H2O2 in high enough concentrations to warrant protection. Either way I guess non-toxic is not warranted as a label. Unless they’re using HAN and the suits are a precaution against it.