{"id":243597,"date":"2023-12-12T03:01:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T03:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=243597"},"modified":"2023-12-12T03:01:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T03:01:45","slug":"us-air-force-spy-plane-launch-using-elon-musks-rocket-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/us-air-force-spy-plane-launch-using-elon-musks-rocket-cancelled\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force &apos;spy&apos; plane launch using Elon Musk&apos;s rocket cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> US &#8216;spy&#8217; space shuttle launch by is DELAYED by Space X at the last second &#8216;due to ground side issue&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The X-37B&#8217; was due to launch at 8:14pm ET on Monday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Takeoff was cancelled at the last second due to &#8216;ground issues&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The rocket&#8217;s payload is almost entirely classified, fostering rumors of weapons\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A US Air Force &#8216;spy&#8217; plane due to be launched by SpaceX as part of a classified mission has been forced to stand down minutes before it was due to take off.<\/p>\n<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket was scheduled to take off at 8:14pm ET from NASA&#8217;s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/p>\n<p>But a &#8216;ground issue&#8217; led to the mission being axed at the eleventh hour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Standing down from tonight\u2019s Falcon Heavy launch due to a ground side issue,&#8217; a statement from SpaceX said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Vehicle and payload remain healthy. Team is resetting for the next launch opportunity of the USSF-52 mission, which is no earlier than tomorrow night.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78849835-12852875-image-a-17_1702345920955.jpg\" height=\"429\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The X-37B is a military spacecraft that carries classified payloads into Earth&#8217;s orbit. It was due to take off on Monday night before a &#8216;ground side issue&#8217; led to the mission being called off<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78849837-12852875-image-a-16_1702345911911.jpg\" height=\"488\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX confirmed the aircraft&#8217;s launch has been delayed until Tuesday night at the earliest\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This mission would have been the secretive X-37B&#8217;s seventh since it debuted in 2010, and most of the craft&#8217;s payload is classified.<\/p>\n<p>Initially the mission was postponed by ten minutes, with SpaceX optimistic it would still go ahead with a live webcast of takeoff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now targeting 8:24 p.m. ET for tonight\u2019s Falcon Heavy launch of USSF-52. Weather is 85% favorable and the webcast will go live ~15 minutes ahead of liftoff,&#8217; a statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But just ten minutes after announcing the delay the rocket company revealed the mission would be cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>Some experts have speculated that the USSF craft is used to run spy missions, to keep an eye on Chinese space operations, or to test reconnaissance systems.<\/p>\n<p>The X-37B can theoretically carry weapons into space, possibly to defend US satellites against anti-satellite weapons.<\/p>\n<p>China and Russia have accused the US government of using the craft as a bomber.<\/p>\n<p>This pilotless craft has been performing a range of classified missions for the military group since 2010, allowing the group to test new technologies in space.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78849739-12852875-image-a-34_1702346070269.jpg\" height=\"460\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The delay was the second in 24 hours after a launch on Sunday from\u00a0from NASA &#8216;s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida was similarly postponed<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78837471-12852875-The_X_37B_is_a_military_spacecraft_that_carries_classified_paylo-a-37_1702346174752.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The X-37B is a military spacecraft that carries classified payloads into Earth&#8217;s orbit. Its last mission lasted 908 days.<\/p>\n<p>Past missions have demonstrated that the X-37B is a military workshop for new space technologies.<\/p>\n<p>The X-37B can make stealth changes to its orbit, tweaking direction in a hard way for observers to detect.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Powered by solar cells with lithium-ion batteries, the plane was orbiting at around 200 miles high.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, the US Air Force confirmed that the craft was being used to test a new electric propulsion system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A statement from the USSF said the X-37B mission would involve &#8216;a wide range of test and experimentation objectives&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;These tests include operating the reusable spaceplane in new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies, and investigating the radiation effects on materials provided by NASA.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement the USSF gave SpaceFlightNow, the Falcon Heavy launch marks a new era for the craft &#8211; which has previously launched on a Falcon 9 or Atlas V, both of which have significantly smaller payload capacities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The use of a Falcon Heavy rocket will expand the X-37B flight envelope, launching into a new orbital regime and enabling unique experimentation opportunities for the X-37B,&#8217; USSF said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78837535-12852875-The_X_37B_space_plane_will_go_into_Earth_s_orbit_wearing_a_USSF_-a-4_1702344976501.jpg\" height=\"913\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Monday night&#8217;s mission would have\u00a0 been the secretive X-37B&#8217;s seventh since it debuted in 2010, and most of the craft&#8217;s payload is classified<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/01\/78837533-12852875-The_Falcon_Heavy_rocket_can_carry_a_much_heavier_payload_into_sp-a-36_1702346158875.jpg\" height=\"486\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Falcon Heavy rocket can carry a much heavier payload into space than the Falcon 9 or Atlas V can. This suggests the X-37B will be flying higher than it did during past missions<\/p>\n<p>The delay on Monday followed a previous setback on Sunday, which pushed takeoff back by 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>No exact reason was given for the initial delay, but SpaceX had hoped the mission would proceed as planned on Monday with more favorable weather conditions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now targeting Monday, December 11 for Falcon Heavy\u2019s launch of the USSF-52 mission, with weather conditions forecasted to improve to 70% favorable for liftoff on Monday night.,&#8217; an update read.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The team will use the time to complete additional pre-launch check outs.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Though details of the X-37B&#8217;s orbit and activities are classified,\u00a0official documents seem to confirm that it was due to take a different path than it has in the past.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to its classified payload, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle would have carried an experiment that tracks the effects of space radiation on seeds.<\/p>\n<p>The first mission in 2010 lasted 224 days, the second a year later went on for 468 days, and the mission that ended in 2019 lasted a total of 780 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12852875\/SpaceX-spy-plane-launch-cancelled.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US &#8216;spy&#8217; space shuttle launch by is DELAYED by Space X at the last second &#8216;due to ground side issue&#8217; The X-37B&#8217; was due to launch at 8:14pm ET on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>US Air Force &amp;apos;spy&amp;apos; plane launch using Elon Musk&amp;apos;s rocket cancelled - lovemainstream.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/world-news\/us-air-force-spy-plane-launch-using-elon-musks-rocket-cancelled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Air Force &amp;apos;spy&amp;apos; 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