lpinoy
03-20-2010, 05:34 AM
The Air Force plans to launch a new mini-shuttle into space next month, and besides the craft being smaller than we're used to, there will be another big difference.
There will be no crew on board.
Called the X-37B, the 30 foot long, 10 foot tall spacecraft will be able to fly into space and then return to earth without any astronauts on board. In a quote to the Air Force Times, the Air Force states the mission objective is “space experimentation, risk reduction and … development [of] reusable space vehicle technologies.”
The project is an adaptation of an NASA program from 1999, where they looked for smaller, cheaper ways to get a crew into space. The Air Force took over after NASA scrapped it, and changed the X-37 into an unmanned craft.
There will be no crew on board.
Called the X-37B, the 30 foot long, 10 foot tall spacecraft will be able to fly into space and then return to earth without any astronauts on board. In a quote to the Air Force Times, the Air Force states the mission objective is “space experimentation, risk reduction and … development [of] reusable space vehicle technologies.”
The project is an adaptation of an NASA program from 1999, where they looked for smaller, cheaper ways to get a crew into space. The Air Force took over after NASA scrapped it, and changed the X-37 into an unmanned craft.