The U.S. military’s X-37B space plane will ride atop a Falcon Heavy rocket.
“Our national security space launches transport our most important capabilities into orbit,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space and Commander, Space Launch Delta 45. “We partner closely with our launch service providers, and the entire team is focused on executing a successful mission.”
It’s a secretive mission scheduled to launch on Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center
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Space X IN SPACE - FEBRUARY 8: In this handout photo provided by SpaceX, a Tesla roadster launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket with a dummy driver named "Starman" heads towards Mars. (Photo by SpaceX via Getty Images) (Handout/Getty Images)
Space X TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA - APRIL 11: People watch as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 2019 in Titusville, Florida. The rocket is carrying a communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin into orbit. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 30: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft attached takes off from the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley lifted off today on an inaugural flight and will be the first people since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 30: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches into space with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (R) and Doug Hurley aboard the rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The inaugural flight is the first manned mission since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States. (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images) (Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - APRIL 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on April 23, 2021 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket with an international crew of four astronauts in a Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Space X TITUSVILLE, FL - MAY 30: People line the A.Max Brewer Causeway to watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida May 30, 2020 in Titusville, Florida . American astronauts Bob Behknen and Doug Hurley are aboard the crew Dragon capsule on a mission to link up with International Space Station. This is NASA's first crewed launch from U.S. soil since 2011 at the ending of the Space Shuttle program. (Photo by Red Huber/Getty Images) (Red Huber/Getty Images)
Space X IN SPACE - FEBRUARY 8: In this handout photo provided by SpaceX, a Tesla roadster launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket with a dummy driver named "Starman" heads towards Mars. (Photo by SpaceX via Getty Images) (Handout/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 30: In this NASA handout image, detail of the exhaust as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASAs SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, Saturday, May 30, 2020, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agencys Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (NASA/Joel Kowsky/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 30: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft attached takes off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley lifted off today on an inaugural flight and will be the first people since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Space X CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 15: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Crew Dragon capsule lifts off from launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the first completely private mission to fly into orbit on September 15, 2021 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX is flying four private citizens into space on a three-day mission. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Officials said this will be the 7th mission for the X-37B.
“We benefit greatly from our partnerships with other government agencies and from commercially derived developments,” said Dr. Walt Lauderdale, Mission Director and lead for Falcon Systems and Operations at SSC. “When we look at the upswing in the launch tempo, adapting to change is our standard operating procedure that gives us the capacity and throughput we will need to support future national security space requirements.”
Its last record-setting mission lasted over 900 days.
