Boeing built the X-37 in the 1990’s to be an unpiloted, autonomously operated vehicle to go into low earth orbit. It was abandoned by NASA and transferred to DARPA in 2004.
The X-37 is scheduled to be test flown by being dropped from the White Knight launch platform which is the same plane design that carried SpaceShipOne to it’s historic feat of reaching “space” and thus winning the Ansari X Prize.
This is just too good not to repost, the guys on the ISS will get to see the eclipse tomorrow from orbit. I hope they take about a million pictures!
Space Station Crew to See a Real Moon Shadow: “Crewmembers aboard the International Space Station will have a rare opportunity to witness the Moon’s shadow racing across the face of the Earth during a total solar eclipse tomorrow.
(Via SPACE.com.)
20 Trillion dollars sounds pretty good to me. I’m getting busy on the business plan. Anyone got a heavy lift vehicle I can borrow?
The Financial Future of Space Travel: “gurps_npc writes ’ This CNNMoney story discusses the financial future of space travel. In particular it gives some nice names and numbers, such as Bezos, Musk and 3554 Amun. 3554 Amun is an small metalic asteroid that crosses Earth’s pass (not on collission course) and contains over 20 trillion US dollars worth of precious metal. It is a great fact to know when trying to explain to flat-earth types that don’t understand why we waste money on space travel.’
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(Via Slashdot.)
