09 September, 2017
The launch was the first time that NASA used a SpaceX rocket to launch the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), a 29-foot-long Air Force craft whose goal is classified. The launch came and went while Kennedy Space Center prepared for Irma to make landfall. The storm was 900 miles away from the Kennedy Space Center at the time. This denotes the sixteenth effective arriving of a Falcon 9 post-launch and the seventh successful landing on the strong ground. The company has also signed two separate deals - valued at a combined total of $183.7 million - over the past two years to launch Global Positioning System satellites into orbit for the Air Force. Thursday's successful X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle launch marks an important step as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk looks to secure more lucrative military launch contracts.
Air Force officials told Space Flight Now that this was OTV's fifth mission, adding that it "continues to advance the X-37B's performance and flexibility as a space technology demonstrator and host platform for experimental payloads".
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket won USA air force certification for national security space missions in May 2015, breaking a lock long-held by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp.
The Boeing-built X-37B's mission is shrouded in mystery, with very little being said about the secretive military project.
In 2014, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease with NASA for the use of Launch Complex 39A.
"However, it could help increase the air force's comfort level with launching national security payloads on SpaceX in general, which could be a significant source of revenue in the future", Weeden wrote in an email.
OTV-5 lifted off at 10:00 am Eastern time aboard a Falcon 9 rocket equipped with a first stage booster that landed at Cape Canaveral AF Station after stage separation, according to SpaceX. It's conceivable it could be an extra couple of years before the X-37B returns to Earth again after this launch.
Musk, SpaceX's CEO, saw his net worth rise by about $4 billion after SpaceX's latest fund-raising round valued the company at around $21 billion.