The US Air Force 'space plane' has set off on its secret mission

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The US Air Force has successfully launched an Atlas Five rocket into space, including an X37B spacecraft to perform a covert mission.

The rocket was supposed to be launched from the Cape Canaveral space base on Saturday, but was launched on Sunday due to bad weather. The aircraft, called the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), will launch a planet into orbit and also test the power beaming technology, the transfer of energy through waves. This will be the plane's sixth space mission. The launch of the mission was named after the frontline workers and those affected by Corona. The X37B is a secret program and little is known about it. The Pentagon has in the past released little information about the drone's missions and capabilities. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said earlier this month that "this X37B mission will be more experimental than any previous mission."

An experiment will examine the effects of radiation on seeds and other substances. The X37B program was launched in 1999. The plane looks like a small space shuttle retiring in 2011. It can land on the runway from space just like a space shuttle. Built by Boeing, the aircraft uses solar panels to generate energy while in orbit. It is over 29 feet long, its wingspan is about 15 feet and it weighs 11,000 pounds or 4,989 kilograms. The plane first flew in April 2010 and returned after an eight-month mission.

Its latest mission ended in October 2019 after 780 days in orbit, bringing the total time spent in space to seven years.