 |
| A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Air Force’s first X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle rolls out to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 launch pad April 21, 2010, prior to its launch. OTV-2 launched March 5, 2011, and will help Air Force scientists better evaluate and understand the vehicle’s performance characteristics and expand upon the tests from OTV-1. (Courtesy photo/Pat Corkery) |
X-37B fact sheet.
How do you determine reliability after one completed flight, especially considering that the first X-37B hasn't flown again yet?
ReplyDeletewell it is rather tongue in cheek...but it appears that NASA is essentially giving up its role in space....we're dependent on the Europeans and Russians for manned travel...and the USAF is shouldering the burden for all military launches now...additionally the X-37 just launched again...i know that its unmanned but still its a quick turnaround...
ReplyDeleteThe X-37B that just launched is not the same X-37B that launched on April 21, 2010. It is a second vehicle.
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. AF can get it done, maybe we don't have to have NASA filling this role anymore. Leave the manned space flight to the private sector.
ReplyDeleteX37B appears to be an important part of Pentagon's Space-AirSea initiative mentioned repeatedly in SecDef'recent speech.
ReplyDelete"The secret sauce of Western civilization"
ReplyDelete1. competition,
2. modern science,
3. the rule of law and private property rights,
4. modern medicine,
5. the consumer society and the work ethic
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2056610,00.html?xid=newsletter-weekly
How many of them will the US still have a decade from now?
Didn't NASA develop the X-37 and then hand over to the USAF?
ReplyDeleteStill, I agree that it is sad that NASA has become dependent on foreign launchers. Even its reliance on US commercial entities may prove to be a liability....or it may yield the cost-savings that NASA could never attain in-house.