SpaceX has announced that it has set December 28 as the target date for the launch of the United States military's X-37B robotic space plane on its seventh mission into orbit. The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to carry USSF-52 into orbit from Florida, as stated in a SpaceX post on Friday. This date was chosen after a delay earlier in the week for additional system checks. Originally planned for a late Sunday launch, the mission was postponed due to adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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#SpaceX #X37B #MilitarySpace #FalconHeavy #SpaceLaunch #OrbitalMission #NationalSecurity #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #December28Launch #SpaceForce #USMilitary #RocketLaunch #Aerospace
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NewsTranscript
00:00 SpaceX has announced that it has set December 28 as a target date for the launch of the
00:05 United States military's X-37B robotics spaceplane on its seventh mission into orbit.
00:11 The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to carry USSF-52 into orbit from Florida, as stated in a SpaceX
00:17 post on Friday.
00:19 This date was chosen after a delay earlier in the week for additional system checks.
00:23 Originally planned for a late Sunday launch, the mission was postponed due to adverse weather
00:28 conditions at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
00:32 This upcoming mission marks the seventh for the unmanned X-37B and its inaugural launch
00:37 atop a Falcon Heavy, a configuration of three reusable rocket cores capable of lifting the
00:43 vehicle to higher orbits than ever before.
00:45 Resembling a miniature space shuttle and about the size of a small bus, the X-37B is designed
00:51 for deploying various payloads and conducting technology experiments during extended orbital
00:56 flights.
00:57 Since 2010, the X-37B has completed six previous missions, with its last flight lasting well
01:03 over two years before returning in November 2022.
01:06 The Pentagon has not disclosed the intended orbital altitude for this mission, also referred
01:11 to as the Orbital Test Vehicle.
01:13 However, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office mentioned in a press statement last
01:17 month that the mission would include tests of new orbital regimes and experiments with
01:22 future space domain awareness technologies.
01:25 In addition to national security payloads, the X-37B carried a NASA experiment to investigate
01:30 the effects of long-term exposure to radiation in space on plant seeds.
01:34 The duration of the space plane's latest mission has not been disclosed by the military,
01:39 but it is expected to remain in orbit until at least June 2026, based on previous trends
01:44 of successively longer flights.
01:46 General B. Chan Saltzman, now chief of space organizations in the Space Force, suggested
01:52 in 2020 that the X-37B might be nearing its final mission, considering it as technology
01:58 that has served its purpose.
02:00 The upcoming X-37B flight will mark the third time it is used by the US government to transport
02:05 a national security payload into orbit.
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