On April 22, 2010, the U.S. Air Force launched the super-secret X-37B space plane on its first spaceflight. [
This space plane is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much smaller and doesn't have any windows. But the X-37B doesn't need windows anyway, because no one actually flies in it. It's completely autonomous and can even land on a runway without a human pilot. The X-37B has flown several highly classified payloads on long-duration missions. For its first flight, the X-37B launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and it orbited the Earth for 224 days. The Air Force never disclosed what kind of experiments were going on during that time.
This space plane is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much smaller and doesn't have any windows. But the X-37B doesn't need windows anyway, because no one actually flies in it. It's completely autonomous and can even land on a runway without a human pilot. The X-37B has flown several highly classified payloads on long-duration missions. For its first flight, the X-37B launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and it orbited the Earth for 224 days. The Air Force never disclosed what kind of experiments were going on during that time.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space. On April 22, 2010, the US Air Force launched the super-secret X-37B
00:08spaceplane on its first spaceflight. This spaceplane is also known as the
00:13Orbital Test Vehicle. It looks a lot like NASA's space shuttle, only it's much
00:17smaller and it doesn't have any windows. But the X-37B doesn't need windows
00:21anyway, because no one actually flies in it. It's completely autonomous and can
00:25even land on a runway without a human pilot. The X-37B has flown several
00:30highly classified payloads on long duration missions. For its first flight,
00:34the X-37B launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and it orbited the
00:37Earth for 224 days. The Air Force never disclosed what kind of experiments were
00:42going on during that time. And that's what happened on this day in space.