U.S. Air Force plans to launch a robot spacecraft with wings, the X-37b, into orbit on April 19, later at the base of Cape Canaveral, Florida. U.S. Air Force spokesman Maj. Angie I. Blair's press conference did not mention the manned aircraft will perform a test mission navigation technology, control, thermal protection and autonomous operations in orbit and how the plane landed back to earth safely.Angie, as quoted by the Associated Press, Sunday (4 / 4), did not specify the primary purpose of testing the vehicle's orbit so that some parties question the importance of the mission of U.S. Air Force this time. A defense analyst John Pike, a satirical U.S. technology development programs over the years. Director of Global Security said that for several years studying more than a dozen types of hypersonic aircraft, suborbital, and Scramjet program. However, the technology was studied only a few can comprehend.
This small spacecraft was built since 10 years ago and is a collaboration between NASA, the Pentagon and the Air Force. The program is estimated to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but the total cost until now has not been officially released.
