Florida to Secret Military Space Project: Land Here!
Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency, doubled its budget to refurbish two old space shuttle hangers in an effort to lure a secretive military project to the Kennedy Space Center.
Space Florida board members agreed to add $4 million to the project, with is aimed at relocating the Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles to Florida from California.
The 29-foot-long robotic spaceships, which resemble miniature space shuttles, are experimental vehicles the military has been flying since April 2010. The program’s third mission, launched on Dec. 11, 2012, remains under way.
The Air Force has not disclosed what the X-37B is doing in orbit, nor when or where it will land. Two prior X-37B missions lasted 224 days and 469 days respectively, and landed autonomously at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The program currently consists of two vehicles.
The military has said it is considering relocating the program to Florida to save money on operations. The vehicles are launched on unmanned Atlas 5 rockets from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They could land on the shuttle’s no-longer-needed runway.
More: Florida to Secret Military Space Project: Land Here! : Discovery News