![]() On 21 June 2005, the X-37A completed a captive-carry flight underneath the White Knight from Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California. In September 2004, DARPA announced that for its initial atmospheric drop tests the X-37A would be launched from the Scaled Composites White Knight, a high-altitude research aircraft. Instead of an operational vehicle's payload bay doors, it had an enclosed and reinforced upper fuselage structure to allow it to be mated with a mothership. The X-37A vehicle that was used as an atmospheric drop test glider had no propulsion system. Glide testing The Scaled Composites White Knight was used to launch the X-37A on glide tests (2007). ![]() DARPA promoted the X-37 as part of the independent space policy that the United States Department of Defense has pursued since the 1986 Challenger disaster. Thereafter, the program became a classified project. ![]() The X-37 was transferred from NASA to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on 13 September 2004. The X-37 was originally designed to be carried into orbit in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle, but underwent redesign for launch on a Delta IV or comparable rocket after it was determined that a shuttle flight would be uneconomical. An early goal for the program was for the X-37 to rendezvous with satellites and perform repairs. ![]() An early requirement for the spacecraft called for a total mission delta-v of 7,000 miles per hour (3.1 km/s) for orbital maneuvers. The aerodynamic design of the X-37 was derived from the larger Space Shuttle orbiter, hence the X-37 has a similar lift-to-drag ratio, and a lower cross range at higher altitudes and Mach numbers compared to DARPA's Hypersonic Technology Vehicle. In late 2002, a new US$301 million contract was awarded to Boeing as part of NASA's Space Launch Initiative framework. Air Force US$16 million, and Boeing US$67 million. Over a four-year period, a total of US$192 million was spent on the project, with NASA contributing US$109 million, the U.S. In 1999, NASA selected Boeing Integrated Defense Systems to design and develop an orbital vehicle, built by the California branch of Boeing's Phantom Works. Development Origins An artist's rendering of the X-37 spacecraft in 1999 The latest mission, the sixth, launched on an Atlas V on and concluded on 12 November 2022, reaching a total of 908 days in orbit. Subsequent flights gradually extended the mission duration, reaching 780 days in orbit for the fifth mission, the first to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. Īn X-37 first flew during a drop test in 2006 its first orbital mission was launched in April 2010 on an Atlas V rocket, and returned to Earth in December 2010. Until 2019, the program was managed by Air Force Space Command. The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, before being transferred to the United States Department of Defense in 2004. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. The X-37 is operated by the United States Space Force for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle ( OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft.
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