Looks like the Air Force secretly adopted the x-37b unmanned space plane. This vehicle looks similar to the space shuttle, though smaller, and unmanned! It was supposed to be a lifeboat for the ISS, but it was canceled by NASA in 2003. And, sure enough, picked right back up by the Air Force!
Here is an exerpt from the article I pulled up:
[LOS ANGELES — After a decade of development, the Air Force this month plans to launch a robotic spacecraft resembling a small space shuttle to conduct technology tests in orbit and then glide home to a California runway.
The ultimate purpose of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and details about the craft, which has been passed between several government agencies, however, remain a mystery as it is prepared for launch April 19 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
"As long as you're confused you're in good shape," said defense analyst John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org.]
YIKES!!!
Join me over the jump for discussion:
This supposed Spy Plane is being touted as the Prototype, and nobody knows what its purpose is after its maiden flight planned for mid April 2010(a week or two). Thus, I wanted to show you all the LAUNCH schedule for NASA this month:
http://www.nasa.gov/...
What, NO x-37b found anywhere in the official NASA schedule. This sounds like Skunk Works to me(have blue and f-117 stealth)... Therefore, we probably will not know about this until 5-10years from now, when we start using it more(C.I.A. black projects). Remember back in 1989, when Operation Just Cause in Panama happened. Well, that is when the world learned of the f-117. In this mini-war= The Military used the stealth to bomb a field near a barracks of panamanian soldiers. Come to find out, Stealth was made at Area 51 and tested at White Sands New Mexico AFB in 1981. And the rest is history. I suspect this is similar. Anyways, here is the article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...