The U.S. Air Force is secretly sending a plane to space
A United States Air Force space plane is quietly making its fourth mission into orbit Wednesday, for reasons that are top secret. The unmanned X-37B spacecraft, which NASA says is similar in design to some of its retired space shuttles, was made specially for the Air Force by Boeing.
What will this mysterious vessel be doing in space? "The test mission furthers the development of the concept of operations for reusable space vehicles, and fine-tunes technical parameters for an affordable, reusable space vehicle," Air Force spokesman Capt. Christopher M. Hoyler told The Times.
The New York Times offers a little bit more explanation:
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Before you start speculating that this is all a cover for a Dr. Evil-esque plot to put a laser on the moon, know that the Pentagon has essentially already denied those kinds of extravagantly bellicose plans. Sorry!
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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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