Tag: Boeing Phantom Works
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U.S. military spaceplane breaks its own longevity record in orbit
Artist’s concept of the X-37B spaceplane in orbit. Credit: Boeing A robotic U.S. military spaceplane surpassed 719 days in orbit Monday, setting a new record for the longest flight of the Air Force’s winged X-37B orbiting experiment platform nearly two years after launching from Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Air Force officials have…
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Rapid-fire engine tests raise hopes for DARPA’s planned reusable spaceplane
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine is test-fired June 27 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA A series of unprecedented back-to-back test-firings of a rocket engine originally developed for NASA’s space shuttle concluded earlier this month, giving engineers data crucial to achieving rapid 24-hour turnarounds planned for a U.S. military-funded reusable winged booster…
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Boeing, DARPA to base XS-1 spaceplane at Cape Canaveral
Artist’s concept of the XS-1 spaceplane before releasing its expendable upper stage. Credit: Boeing A reusable suborbital spaceplane the size of a business jet being developed by Boeing and the Defense Department’s research and development arm could be launching and landing at Cape Canaveral in 2020, officials said after the defense contractor won a competition…
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U.S. Air Force taps SpaceX to launch next X-37B spaceplane mission
File photo of an X-37B spaceplane being encapsulated inside the nose cone of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket before its first test flight in April 2010. Credit. U.S. Air Force A month after an X-37B mini-space shuttle glided to a landing on Kennedy Space Center’s runway in Florida, the U.S. Air Force announced…