March 9, 2012 08:04 am EDT

Happy Biiiirthday Mr USAF X-37B Robot Space Plane

The X-37B was only meant to stay up in space for a gestational nine months, but a full year has now passed since launch and the US Air Force apparently has little interest in bringing its baby home. On the contrary: according to Space.com, the plan is to send up another unmanned space plane to keep the X-37B company on its [CLASSIFIED] missions. Whatever it's getting up to in that airless playground, it must be doing something right. Air Force Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre says the craft is "setting the standard for a reusable space plane and, on this one-year orbital milestone, has returned great value on the experimental investment." Which is a fine way of saying [STILL CLASSIFIED].

Happy Biiiirthday Mr USAF X-37B Robot Space Plane originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/09/usaf-x-37b-celebrates-one-year-in-space/

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