US launch military space craft
- 13 years ago
The United States Air Force has launched an experimental space plane on a classified mission.
The prototype miniature space shuttle blasted off aboard an unmanned rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, for a demonstration run that could last as long as nine months.
Known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, it is the second ship to sent into orbit under a US military programme.
The vehicles are smaller versions of Nasa's space shuttle orbiters, 29 feet (8.8 metres) long, 14 feet (4.3 metres) across.
The one-third scale spaceships are solar powered, unlike the space shuttles, and are not designed to carry people.
They are intended to test technologies for low-cost, quick-turnaround, reusable space vehicles, as well as serve as orbital testbeds for instruments that could be incorporated into future satellites.