Air Force’s X-37B lands at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility After several false dawns, the US Air Force’s X-37B mini-spaceplane has landed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the first time. With local reports of a sonic boom breaking through the morning air in areas of Florida, the Air Force confirmed the landing took place on Sunday at the historic Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF)
Kennedy Space Center shines as a multi-user spaceport:
The retirement of the Shuttle fleet left a rather large hole in the Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC’s) ability to launch and conduct human orbital space operations.
At the conclusion of the historic reusable spaceplane program, NASA vowed to transition KSC from a single-user, single rocket facility into a multi-user, multi rocket spaceport for the 21st century .
The first two steps in that plan were the initiation of reconstruction efforts of pad 39B to prepare it for the ability to launch NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Beyond Earth Orbit missions and the 2014 agreement for a 20-year lease of pad 39A to SpaceX for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets .
With the final Shuttle launch from pad 39A on 8 July 2011, the pad lay dormant as reconstructive efforts took place ahead of SpaceX missions.
After Atlantis’ final launch from Pad A, the vehicle returned for the final landing of the Shuttle program back at the Kennedy Space Center on 21 July 2011 – after which the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) has not since hosted an End Of Mission (EOM) landing of an orbital mission.
With Boeing building and processing its CST-100 capsule inside former OPF Bay 3 as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation services contract and the completion of platform installation in the VAB for SLS stacking operations , the Kennedy Space Center is truly shining as a multi-user spaceport.
Specifically for the Air Force, the ability to use the SLF at Kennedy marks what is hoped to be the first of many uses of the SLF as the primary EOM landing facility for the X-37B – which the Air Force hopes to launch, land, and refurbish at KSC and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
In fact, after landing, the X-37B is expected to be towed to OPF-1 for post-flight servicing operations. This operation has been tested several times with a mock-up space plane.
OTV-4 – Fourth flight for X-37B comes to an end:
The fourth flight of the Air Force’s experimental X-37B spacecraft had already clocked over 700 days in space, with this morning’s landing bringing the total mission duration to 717 days in space.
Opportunities to land the fourth X-37B mission came as early as February, with NOTAMs, orbital adjustments, and teams at KSC all primed.
These earlier attempts for the X-37B to approach the Kennedy Space Center, with the Range holding a space for several return opportunities, took the form of practice runs before weather became a major factor for what turned out to be a false landing attempt.
Based on the specific path the X-37B followed in its entry sequence this morning – understood to be a descending node entry over portions of the United States and Florida – large swathes of Central Florida were always going to be the first to be graced by the news of her return, via sonic booms as the X-37B rather insistently heralded its arrival back home. Twitter posts pre-empted this return , later confirmed by the Air Force.
The ability for this fourth mission to attempt a return to the runway at Kennedy followed three highly successful, completely autonomous deorbit, entry, and landing sequences of the first three X-37B flights, which all ended with precise touchdowns at the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA.
OTV-2 and OTV-3 landed without incident following a blown tire that led to minor underbelly damage of the OTV-1 vehicle (which subsequently flew the OTV-3 mission).
The expected mission duration for this fourth flight had been 637 days, but in the end, its 717 day mission duration beat OTV-3’s flight which lasted 674 days and 22 hours.
Previously, the first two OTV missions of the X-37B each extended the orbital mission duration of the previous flights, with OTV-2 being in space for 468 days and 14 hours over the OTV-1’s 224 days and 9 hours.
Moreover, the prolonged duration of the third and fourth X-37B missions highlight the secretive nature of the spaceplane, its missions, and its designed orbital lifetime – which is currently listed as 270 days… something which three of the four missions to date have shattered.
Presently, two X-37Bs are known to exist, with the first flying the OTV-1 and -3 missions and the second flying the OTV-2 and -4 missions.
In all, each X-37B is 8.92 m (29 feet 3 inches) in length, has a 4.55 m (14 foot 11 inch) wingspan, has a height of 2.9 m (9 feet 6 inches), and has a maximum lift off weight of 4,990 kg (11,000 lbs).
The vehicles are powered by gallium arsenide solar cells with Lithium-ion batteries and contain a 2.1 x 1.2 meters (7 feet x 4 feet) payload bay.
In preparation for landing at Kennedy, teams practiced landing drills and post-landing safing operations as well as emergency drills at the SLF, even using a mock up during tow tests.
With spacecraft observers noting a February change to the orbit, that – at the time – appeared to point to a landing attempt, along with activity at the SLF and NOTAM posts, the Pentagon deflected the interest in the potential landing, citing that the program was conducting a “regularly scheduled exercise” in a quote provided to Florida Today.
Interestingly, the actual landing on Sunday – three months later – had little by way of a heads up per the above observations.
Quelle: NS
---
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-4 lands at Kennedy Space Center By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published May 07, 2017
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission 4 (OTV-4), the Air Force's unmanned, reusable space plane, landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017.
Quelle: USAF
+++
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A top-secret military spacecraft is back on Earth, and it arrived in style, letting most of Central Florida know it was back in town.
Quelle: FOX35
+++
Air Force's mysterious space plane lands, wakes up Florida
The space plane sent a sonic boom that rattled east-central Florida before 8 a.m., waking residents from their weekend slumber.
"Thought somebody crashed into my garage ... It was just a sonic boom ... Thanks @NASA for the scare!" said one woman on Twitter.
The X-37B, which looks like a small plane, made history by landing for the first time in Florida instead of California. It also set the on-orbit endurance record at 718 days, or almost two years.
"Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today's safe and successful landing of the X-37B," said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith in a
press release.
So what was this unmanned aircraft doing in space that long? There's been mystery surrounding this question for many years.
The Air Force maintains that the reusable plane "performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies."
But many speculate about other possible uses, including spying activities or testing of a secret space weapon.
This completed mission extends the program to 2,085 days in space.
The Air Force is preparing to launch the fifth X-37B mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later in 2017.
Quelle: CNN
+++
Air Force's X-37B space plane lands at KSC with a boom
A U.S. Air Force Orbital Test Vehicle landed with a sonic boom at Kennedy Space Center early morning on Sunday. Credit: USAF
Sonic booms awakened some Space Coast residents Sunday morning as an unmanned military space plane made its first touchdown at Kennedy Space Center, completing a nearly two-year, mostly classified mission.
The Air Force shortly after 8 a.m. reported that the experimental X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle had landed safely on NASA's former space shuttle runway.
Video posted by the Air Force from a runway camera showed the winged craft whiz overhead, touch down on wheels on the runway's north end and race down the three-mile, concrete strip before rolling to a stop in daylight. Official landing time: 7:47 a.m.
Crews wearing protective suits for hazardous operations met the mini-shuttle that measures about 29 feet long — about a quarter the length of NASA's shuttle orbiters — with a nearly 15-foot wingspan.
The fourth X-37B mission, known as OTV-4, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 20, 2015, for a total mission duration of 718 days — the most yet by about six weeks.
"The landing of OTV-4 marks another success for the X-37B program and the nation," said Lt. Col. Ron Fehlen, X-37B program manager, in a press release . "This mission once again set an on-orbit endurance record and marks the vehicle's first landing in the state of Florida. We are incredibly pleased with the performance of the space vehicle and are excited about the data gathered to support the scientific and space communities. We are extremely proud of the dedication and hard work by the entire team."
An unmanned Air Force X-37B space plane on Sunday morning landed at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, completing a more than 700-day mission. (Photo: U.S. Air Force)
The landing was the first on KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility by a spacecraft returning from orbit since Atlantis touched down nearly six years ago to conclude the final flight of NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program.
The much larger shuttle orbiters announced astronauts’ return home with twin sonic booms.
CLOSE
U.S. military officials say an unmanned spacecraft that orbited Earth since May 2015 has landed in Florida. The 29-foot long X37B is part of a test program to develop reusable spacecraft. (May 8) AP
Before Sunday, it was not known how widely noticed the return of the autonomously flown X-37B would be, but residents in northern Brevard County and across Central Florida reported hearing booms on social media.
The Air Force’s two reusable mini-shuttles have now each completed two missions in low Earth orbit, for a total of 2,085 days. The first mission launched in 2010 and flew for about 224 days.
Three previous landings occurred at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
But the program managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and operated by Boeing has since consolidated operations at two of KSC's former shuttle hangars, enabling the mini-shuttles to launch and land in the same place.
High bay doors on one hangar identify the site as the “Home of the X-37B.”
"Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today's safe and successful landing of the X-37B," said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the Air Force's 45th Space Wing.
Details about the purpose of the space planes, which house smaller versions of shuttle payload bays, are mostly kept secret.
CLOSE
The U.S. Air Force is thinking about consolidating mysterious mini-shuttle operations at Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the service said today. Video, narration by Caroline Perez. Reporting by Todd Halvorson. (9-27-12)
The Air Force says the vehicles are advancing reusable spacecraft technologies, allowing systems to be tested in space and then inspected back on the ground before being deployed on operational missions.
For example, the just-landed mission was known to have included tests of an upgraded electric thruster used by high-value national security satellites, and a NASA materials science experiment.
The Secure World Foundation has shot down speculation that the X-37B could be used to attack targets on the ground, saying that scenario has “near zero feasibility."
Instead, the foundation says, the platform “is likely to be used for flight testing new reusable space launch vehicle technologies (such as guidance and thermal protection) and on-orbit testing of new sensor technologies and satellite hardware primarily for space-based remote sensing.”
The Air Force says the fifth X-37B mission, OTV-5, is scheduled to launch later this year from Cape Canaveral.
Quelle: Florida Today
