Mini Shuttle Launch

[jjjnettie]

Watch the U.S. military's X-37B orbital spaceplane being launched on an Atlas 5 rocket. :) It spent 224 days in space in 2010. This time it may be up for as long as a year. :)

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av034/status.html

[pmrid]

For any insomniacs out there, this launch seems to be on track for about 4.a.m. AEST.
Peter

[ourkind]

Thanks JJJ :thumbsup:

Launch in 40mins due at 5am AEST.

[Astro_Bot]

Thanks for the heads up. :thumbsup:

(This time I had an excuse for still being up at 3am: I was collmating my 'scope).

[ourkind]

Its showtime!

[Astro_Bot]

That was cool. Now the X-37B separates and does its secret-squirrel stuff.

[pmrid]

Drat! Missed it. I decided to just 'shut my eyes' around 3.30 and of course woke up 3 minutes after takeoff.
Have to find a replay somewhere.
Peter

[ourkind]

Hi Peter you can catch all the action in the following link :)

http://www.universetoday.com/98937/air-forces-secret-x-37b-space-plane-launches-on-third-mission/#more-98937

[jjjnettie]

I missed it entirely. LOL
But glad you guys got to see it.