Next generation space flight takes orbit

I made a previous post on the topic about how dangerous the retiring Space Shuttle is to those who fly the craft. In that same post I mention about the military's potential future workhorse, the X-37, an unmanned orbiter that is launched by a traditional rocket and lands through gliding back in the Earth's atmosphere touching down on a runway just like the space shuttle. If I am correct, this is the idea behind the original Space Shuttle back in the 1970's before NASA's bureaucracy took over and made it the expensive, dangerous, manned orbiter. Good ideas are generally recycled in history, and this is another example.

The Associated Press reports that the X-37 recently took a flight starting in April 2010,

The U.S. Air Force's secrecy-shrouded X-37B unmanned spaceplane returned to Earth early Friday after more than seven months in orbit on a classified mission, officials said.

The winged craft autonomously landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, base spokesman Jeremy Eggers said.

"It's very exciting," Eggers said of the 1:16 a.m. PST landing.

The X-37B was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 22, 2010, with a maximum mission duration of 270 days.

That is what makes this technology advantageous over the shuttle and traditional rockets. It is launched cheaply (like a rocket), but has the capability of the shuttle in flexibility while in orbit. No need to worry about anyone getting injured or killed during operation either. The X-37 excels in the fact it can remain in orbit for long periods of time. This is a capability neither the rocket or shuttle possess.

Research and development of the system has not been cheap or quick,

The voyage culminated the project's long and expensive journey from NASA to the Pentagon's research and development arm and then on to the secretive Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the X-37 program, but the current total hasn't been released.

Compare the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the X-37 to the $500 million per Space Shuttle launch, it justifies the capital spent. To be fair, anything hi-tech, new and revolutionary like this craft will be expensive to get from idea to final, successful product. Personally, this is a concept many business and government leaders are missing by not funding significant research and development in our society today.