A mini military space plane is poised for liftoff Wednesday on another long orbital test flight. But as usual, the Air Force isn't saying much about the unmanned mission.
Wednesday's launch window for the Atlas V rocket set to carry the X-37B space plane into orbit is open from 10:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. Here's how you can watch it LIVE when it happens:
- On TV: Tune to News 13 in Central Florida or Bay News 9 in Tampa Bay on your Bright House Networks digital cable.
- On your desktop or laptop: Watch our News+ Live Stream.
- On your smartphone or mobile device: Get the Bright House TV app.
This will be the fourth flight of an X-37B, a secretive, experimental program run by the Air Force. The three previous missions also began with rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The mystery test vehicle — essentially a technology test bed — is designed to orbit the Earth and then land like one of NASA's old space shuttles. It is operated robotically, without anyone on board, and is reusable. It is 29 feet long — about one-fourth the size of a NASA shuttle.
View Mission Overview from the United Launch Alliance
The longest X-37B flight lasted about 675 days; touchdown was last October. There was no official word on how long this one will stay up. All three previous missions ended in California.
NASA has a materials experiment aboard, while the Planetary Society is tagging along with a solar-sail demo.
Although largely mum about this X-37B flight, the Air Force has acknowledged a thruster experiment involving electric propulsion. Air Force researchers want to check design modifications to ion thrusters already flying on some advanced military communication satellites.
