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OTV-1
Unmanned spaceflight mission; first flight of the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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USA-212[1] was the first flight of the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (X-37B OTV-1), an American robotic vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane. It was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on 22 April 2010, and operated in low Earth orbit. Its designation is part of the USA series.
![]() OTV-1 during encapsulation prior to maiden launch | |
Mission type | Demonstration |
---|---|
Operator | Air Force Space Command |
COSPAR ID | 2010-015A[1] |
SATCAT no. | 36514 |
Mission duration | 224 days, 9 hours, 24 minutes |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Boeing X-37B |
Manufacturer | Boeing |
Launch mass | 5,400 kg (11,900 lb)[2] |
Power | Deployable solar array, batteries[2] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 22 April 2010, 23:52:00 (2010-04-22UTC23:52Z) UTC[3] |
Rocket | Atlas V 501[2] |
Launch site | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral |
Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 3 December 2010, 09:16:00 (2010-12-03UTC09:17Z) UTC[4] |
Landing site | Vandenberg, Runway 12 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Semi-major axis | 6,598 km (4,100 mi)[5] |
Eccentricity | 0.0006[5] |
Perigee altitude | 279 km (173 mi)[5] |
Apogee altitude | 287 km (178 mi)[5] |
Inclination | 39.9979°[5] |
Period | 88.9 min[5] |
Mean motion | 15.97[5] |
Epoch | 29 November 2010, 04:26:19 UTC[5] |
OTV program |
The spaceplane was operated by Air Force Space Command, which has not revealed the specific identity of the spaceship's payload for the mission. The Air Force has stated only that the spacecraft would "demonstrate various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components, and associated technology to be transported into space and back."[6]