A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch Monday night, sending into orbit a space plane that remains one of the U.S. military’s most exciting projects as the country races to travel deeper into the cosmos.
The secretive X-37B robotic spacecraft is expected to lift off aboard the massive launch vehicle at 8:14 p.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The reusable space plane, which resembles a miniature NASA space shuttle with blacked-out windows, is ready to embark on its seventh experimental mission.
Many of the X-37B’s mysterious tasks have been classified, but the US Space Force provided some details about the objectives of this unmanned mission. The space plane makes it possible for the United States to conduct experiments to better understand how to improve current and future space operations and push the boundaries of what is possible.
Among the research on board will be a NASA experiment that aims to find ways to sustain astronauts on future deep space missions. Called Seeds-2, it will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight” and will build on previous research conducted on X-37B missions.
Monday’s launch will mark the first time the spaceplane has traveled on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which was briefly the world‘s most powerful operational rocket after its debut in 2018. The Falcon Heavy produces more thrust than both the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance combined.
It is unknown how much time the spacecraft will spend orbiting Earth during this period, although historically each X-37B flight has been increasingly longer than the last. The autonomous X-37B’s final trip to orbit concluded in November 2022, after the spacecraft logged nearly 909 days in space.
In August 2020, X-37B won the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy, which honors aerospace achievements, beating out the Hubble Space Telescope.