A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched a classified military space plane from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday night.
The Dec. 28 launch marked the seventh mission for Space Forces’ X-37B space plane and the first time it launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket, according to SpaceNews. The mission had been delayed several times due to weather and undisclosed technical issues.
Built by Boeing, the X-37B spacecraft is designed to operate in low-earth orbit—some 150 to 500 miles above the earth. The launch was streamed on SpaceX’s website; however, the live broadcast was terminated ahead of the X-37B deployment into its designated orbit. While its mission remains unknown, CNN reported the fully autonomous X-37B has a history of “carrying out research on concepts such as relaying solar energy from space for use back on earth and studying the effects of radiation on seeds used to grow food.”
The mission marked the 97th launch for SpaceX this year.
