Update: Historic Space Mission with Local Roots Will Try Again For Launch Today

Editor's Note: Originally slated for Friday, the launch was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions. The next attempt will be 1:09 p.m. Saturday.

Local aerospace workers will soon have their hand in history and their fingerprints in space with today’s scheduled launch of the X-37B orbital space vehicle, an unmanned spacecraft on a highly classified mission.

Slated for launch in Florida today at 1:09 p.m. Pacific time, the top-secret aircraft was built by the Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems’ Experimental Systems Unit in Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and El Segundo, said Boeing spokeswoman Diana Ball. Air Force officials will say little about the space plane’s mission except to confirm that it is experimental. The launch has caught the attention of officials in China and Russia because of the craft’s potential for use as a weapon or for spying. Russia has its own version of an unmanned spacecraft.

“This is the first spacecraft that is able to autonomously land,” said Maj. Tracy A. Bunko, an Air Force spokeswoman. “It has some very advanced space technology inside.”

Designed like a miniature space shuttle, the X-37B is only 29 feet long. Unlike a space shuttle, it can orbit Earth for about 270 days without anyone aboard to operate it. The support systems required to sustain people in space are vast and expensive, explained Bunko.

Unlike a satellite, the X-37B can re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land on an airstrip. The experiments inside can be collected, and the space plane can be reused.

“We’d love to be able to have the capacity to put experiments in space, and the ability to bring an experiment back down, see how it did and that it did what it was supposed to,” added Bunko. “I think it’s a remarkable scientific achievement.”

If it lives up to its expectations, the X-37B would give space programs and experiments more flexibility.

According to Boeing’s website, “Because the X-37B can be returned to Earth, reused and is designed to be highly flexible and maneuverable, its contributions to space exploration will result in making space access more routine, affordable and responsive.”

Such technology, said Bunko, could lead to faster and more mature technological advances in space.

This is the second launch of an X-37B orbital vehicle. The first one was launched last year, and it stayed up for 224 days but was brought down because the Air Force was given the opportunity for a second launch, said Bunko.

Armed with another set of experiments, officials hope to see just how much the X-37B can take.

“We are looking at having this one stay up closer and possibly beyond the 270 days, Bunko said. “What we want to do is test the parameters a little.”