![File photo of an X-37B spaceplane.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/x37b-gallery1-960x600-1-800x500.jpeg)
Enlarge / File photograph of an X-37B spaceplane. (credit score: Boeing)
It seems a number of the knowledgeable hypothesis in regards to the US navy’s newest X-37B spaceplane mission was just about spot-on.
When the semi-classified winged spacecraft launched on December 28, it flew into orbit on prime of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which is way bigger than the Atlas V and Falcon 9 rockets used to launch the X-37B on its earlier missions.
This instantly sparked hypothesis that the X-37B would attain larger altitudes than its previous flights, which remained in low-Earth orbit at altitudes of some hundred miles. A discovery from Tomi Simola, a satellite tv for pc monitoring hobbyist dwelling close to Helsinki, Finland, seems to verify this suspicion.
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