Air Force launches mysterious X-37B space plane ... again

[Horn]

Did somebody post this? As it is related to the "Panic strikes as Dec 21 2012" thread.

http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?65736-Panic-spreads-as-December-21-nears

Air Force launches mysterious X-37B space plane ... again



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=CAPE%20CANAVERAL,%20Fla.&sty=h&form=msdate) — An Atlas 5 rocket sent the Air Force's X-37B mini-shuttle on its first repeat flight on Tuesday, kicking off a months-long classified mission reportedly aimed at testing advanced spy satellite sensors.

Despite earlier concerns about the weather at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launch went off on time, just after 1 p.m. ET.

One-fourth the size of the real space shuttle, the X-37B has captured the imaginations of everyone from amateur satellite trackers to potential military rivals. The X-37B can orbit Earth for months, then re-enter the atmosphere and land autonomously.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50163232/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.UMfHA6xj3dU

[Glass]

why is it related?

[Horn]

why is it related?

Oh don't play coy with me, sir!

Your probably posting from on board this instant,

while the rest of us get turned upside down tomorrow..

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//2010/04/23/042310X37Bprelaunch_270x405.jpg


It's round three for the mysterious X-37B space plane (http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10012609.html).
An Atlas V rocket carrying the unmanned craft, which looks like a miniature space shuttle, has gotten clearance (http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/News.shtml#/126) for a planned liftoff tomorrow at just after 10 a.m. PT from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. [Update, December 11 at 10:21 a.m. PT: The Associated Press reports that the rocket carrying the X-37B has launched (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gjKsK3Hvp_xRU3rymQ8mwomnN86Q?docId=08a528aa1 b11471f9fcb064bcb6dc07b).]
If the previous two trips into space are any indication, don't expect the X-37B to come home anytime soon -- or for the U.S. Air Force to say much about what the vessel is up to. Is it spying? Might it eventually carry weapons? Is there extra cash lying around at the Pentagon for joy rides? Maybe it's a psychological operations ploy to mess with government types in Beijing or Tehran or Pyongyang! The speculation has risen to meet the near silence.
The one detail of any substance that the Air Force and X-37B maker Boeing have shared is that the previous X-37B trips into space went on and on and on. The first, which ended in December 2010, lasted 224 days (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-20024545-42.html), and the second, which ended last June, endured for 469 days (http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57454645-76/unmanned-air-force-space-plane-lands-after-secret-mission/), or a year and four months.



http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57558309-76/secretive-x-37b-space-plane-ready-for-next-flight/