The Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (X-37B OTV-2), an American unmanned robotic vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 5:46 PM EST to low Earth orbit. It is the second operational test of the USAF military spaceplane.The vehicle is capable of being on-orbit for up to 270 days. The Air Force stated the mission time would depend on progress of the craft's experiments during orbit.
After completing its mission, OTV-2 will be deorbited, enter the atmosphere, and land at Vandenberg Air Force Base within six months of launch. OTV-2 will be the third reusable spacecraft to perform an automated landing after returning from orbit, the first being the Soviet Buran spacecraft in 1988 and the second, its sister craft, the OTV-1.
William Scott, former Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine believes that with X-37B, the Air Force might test weapon delivery from a space plane in low Earth orbit. He mentions "Rods from God" - space-launched kinetic missiles - as a possible scenario. The USAF flatly denies it is a space-based weapon. More from MSNBC.
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