Sunday’s launch of a secret space plane produced some eye-catching images - An Atlas V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Saturday morning.jpg

pics/more at
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...a-space-plane/

On Sunday morning, an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance took off
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket hauled the
secretive X-37B space plane into orbit for the US Space Force.

The launch webcast ended just five minutes after the launch due to the
classified nature of the mission, but the rocket company said it inserted the
spacecraft into its target orbit. As a result, this X-37B (there are two
different vehicles that rotate flights) successfully began what is likely to be
an approximately two-year mission to conduct scientific research (and who knows
what other kinds of activities for the military).

This launch was delayed from Saturday morning due to poor weather over the
Florida-based spaceport, and selfishly we're glad for the one-day scrub. Clearer
skies on Sunday meant that images captured by remote cameras set up by Ben
Cooper, who shoots photos for United Launch Alliance, benefited from clear skies
and brilliant sunlight.

The end result, in the gallery above, is quite spectacular.



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