Continuing an ongoing theme of space travel and pushing back the final frontier. Another milestone was reached this week with the return of the X-37B US Military unmanned spacecraft.
As this projected started as a NASA program, there is some information in the public domain about this prototype spaceplane. But there is growing speculation about the future purpose of the X-37B.
This week the craft returned to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Californina after seven months in orbit.
Smaller than the space shuttle at only 8.9m (29ft 3ins) long and with a 4.5m (14ft 11ins) wingspan, designed to be a reusable craft it is about one-quarter the size of the space shuttle.
One of the interesting differences between the shuttle and the X-37B is that while the space shuttle uses a fuel-cell power-system, X-37B is powered by a solar array and lithium-ion batteries.
The auto-pilot return to California is historic as the first autonomous re-entry and landing in the recorded history of the US space programme.
LONDON CHIMES by Malcolm Friend. An expat Brit from London who now lives near Philadelphia.
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