SpaceX is set to launch the U.S. Air Force’s reusable robotic space plane today.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), built by Boeing, is an unmanned spacecraft that has spent up to 700 days orbiting the Earth on previous missions.
This is it’s fifth mission, but the first aboard a SpaceX rocket.
The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 9:50 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Centre, but could be delayed until 2:55 p.m. if necessary. It will be streamed live online.
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As of 8:23 a.m. ET, SpaceX said there was a 50 per cent chance the weather would be favourable for the launch, as Hurricane Irma approaches the coast of Florida.
Falcon 9 and OTV-5 are vertical on Pad 39A Weather is 50% favorable for today’s ~5 launch window which opens at 9:50 a.m. EDT, 13:50 UTC. pic.twitter.com/wc9XyWVZ0E
— @SpaceX
The U.S. National Hurricane Center is expected to issue a hurricane watch for parts of southern Florida and the Florida Keys later Thursday morning.
As usual, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to land, this time at SpaceX’s landing zone at the space station rather than on a barge.
The U.S. Air Force has provided few details about this or previous missions, saying only that the orbiters “perform risk reduction, experimentation and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.” The cost of the program is also classified.
The X-37B first flew in April 2010 and returned after eight months. A second mission launched in March 2011 and lasted 15 months, while a third took flight in December 2012 and returned after 22 months. The fourth launched in May 2015 and landed this past May after almost two years in orbit.