The Skydiving and Aviation Related Photo Thread! (OT)

"The U.S. government's secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope. Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens. They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the Hubble. They also have an additional feature that the civilian space telescopes lack: A maneuverable secondary mirror that makes it possible to obtain more focused images. These telescopes will have 100 times the resolving power of the Hubble, according to David Spergel, a Princeton astrophysicist and co-chair of the National Academies advisory panel on astronomy and astrophysics."

Secret mission accomplished: America's mysterious space plane to land after a YEAR in orbit - and no one knows what it did up there

The X-37B has been circling the Earth at 17,000mph and was due to land in California in December
Mission of highly classified robotic plane extended for unknown reasons
Will now land in mid- to late-June


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2154405/Secret-mission-accomplished-Americas-secret-space-plane-land-YEAR-orbit--knows-did-there.html#ixzz1wslcPKQh

Mystery Mini Space Shuttle X-37B Lands in California

The mysterious unmanned mini-space shuttle on a classified mission has finally returned to earth.

It landed early Saturday morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after weather conditions kept pushing back landing attempts the last few days.

The Air Force's X-37B, is an unmanned reusable spacecraft built by Boeing that has spent more than a year on a classified mission in space.

Measuring 29 feet in length and having a 15-foot wingspan, the unmanned reusable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle looks like a miniature version of NASA's now retired space shuttles.

The spacecraft landed at Vandenberg at 5:48am PDT after having spent 469 days in orbit.

The craft went into orbit on March 5, 2011, but as was the case during its first launch in 2010, very little has been known about its mission or what payloads it might be carrying because its missions are classified.

That has led to speculation that the spacecraft is involved in intelligence gathering operations or the testing of new technologies.

In keeping with the scarce mission details for the X-37B, all the Air Force would say in a statement Saturday wais that the spacecraft had "conducted on-orbit experiments" during its mission.

Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre, the X-37B program manager said, "With the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, the X-37B OTV program brings a singular capability to space technology development." He added, "The return capability allows the Air Force to test new technologies without the same risk commitment faced by other programs. We're proud of the entire team's successful efforts to bring this mission to an outstanding conclusion."

Even the initial announcement about an upcoming landing details kept the details vague. A May 30 Air Force statement said the spacecraft would return to earth in the "early- to mid-June time frame."

Designed to stay in extended Earth orbits, the X-37B remained in orbit for 224 days during its maiden mission in 2010.

This mission kept it in orbit more than twice as long this time around.

An Air Force statement announcing Saturday's landing says the X37B will launch again later this fall aboard an Atlas V booster.

Jet Chicks are hot.