Pentagon Launches Mystery US Spacecraft (with video)
Jonathan Robins, Sky News Online
Officially the project will test a new space shuttle, the X-37B, that will look at safer and cheaper ways to return spacecraft to earth.
But the details of its payload, experiments and orbital operations have all been classified.
The real purpose of the mission could be to position satellites and other types of surveillance, according to military and security sources.
The launch is a military project being controlled by the US Air Force Space Command - not NASA.
A military use would explain why the Pentagon has invested up to hundreds of millions of dollars in the craft.
The vehicle should "provide an 'on-orbit laboratory' test environment to prove new technology and components before those technologies are committed to operational satellite programmes", according to the US Air Force.
Unlike current shuttles, it can remain in orbit for up to nine months, but cannot carry people.
The X-37B will eventually land in California, but no-one knows how long its first mission will take.
"In all honesty, we don't know when it's coming back," said Gary Payton of the US Air Force.
The spacecraft would aid "development programs that will provide capabilities for our warfighters in the future", he added.
Once in orbit the shuttle will be powered by solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.
If its flight is successful a second vehicle will be launched next year.
April 23, 2010