Secret Space Mission. 1 Year in Space Doing What? (Finally coming down)

Art icle

So this space craft was floating around for 1 year. Supposedly, it was to test a reusable space craft. China got pissed off and thinks it was a spy shuttle. Wardriving in space? I've never heard of this shuttle and thought it was interesting that it has orbited for a year with no real goal, and all the budget cuts. What get's me is that the staff was in bio-hazard suits. Figuring, it is bio-hazard suits at launch and based off that picture a Geiger counter, that should be a clue to what is in the ship at launch. Possibly for a radiation weapon to disable satellites, even if they where radiation hardened. Another question, and a far shot. Maybe this is a new way to jettison radioactive waste for national security. You know, to avoid dirty bombs getting in the wrong hands. Maybe they have ties with all the "rare" fireballs seen shooting in the sky. I look into location of the 2 and post later if anything interesting

Some key notes:

the space plane was accompanied by staff in biohazard suits

It was meant to land in March, but the mission of the X-37B orbital test vehicle was extended – for unknown reasons.

Last May, amateur astronomers were able to detect the orbital pattern of the first X-37B which included flyovers of North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, heightening the suspicion that the vehicle was being used for surveillance.

There are rumours circulating that the craft has been kept in space to spy on the new Chinese space station, Tiangong.

I'd like to hear some theories from ATS on some possible theories!

Here are some from searching the Webs/ATS:

Weapon - related with OTV-1 OTV-2
Earthquake weapon
Part 2

Are three shuttles better then one? Maybe it can relate to GPS system, 3 shuttle are better then 2. Therefore, if related, would be more of a accuracy measure.


(will be editing more theories and positioning during recent rare fireball sitings, earthquakes and what not. Calling it a night)

reply to post by Thrax


Yeah, I remember that. There are many threads about it. Just type "X-37B" on the ATS search engine.

reply to post by Trueman


yikes, fail search, i searched nasa shuttle lmao. Thanks for the heads up. Gonna be reading now.

Interestingly enough, I just finished reading an article about this... and was wondering the same things. So I thought I'd bring it to ATS... to my surprise, there it is!

www.space.com...

Speaking April 17 at the 28th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., Shelton said: "Although I can’t talk about mission specifics, suffice it to say this mission has been a spectacular success."

I doubt it has anything to do with 'spying' on the Chinese, my guess is that it has something to do with exposing particular cargo's to the environments of space. Guessing somewhere along the lines of life.

OMG! They were testing zombies! Zombies in Space!

'On a small planet, in a galaxy far, far away. The ambitious inhabitants sought after developing genetic abilities to survive in the space. Little did they know, that the creatures that they were to create would become the very means of their own demise. Coming this winter, Dec 21'st 2012... A WT! Entertainment film along with You've Gotta Be Kidding Me Productions bring you 'Zombies in Space!'' you get the point.

It will be loaded with EMP waheads, just waiting in orbit till the 2012 Olympics, bye bye Europe hello dark age, queue false flag attack, queue WWIII, oh look China glows in the dark now!

Wasn't this the same plane which NASA told the world they lost it?

Originally posted by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS
Zombies in Space!

sounds like a bad movie lol

reply to post by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS

OMG! They were testing zombies! Zombies in Space!

Stupidest thing I ever heard... They weren't testing zombies in space.





Zombies come from space.

Originally posted by DaveNorris

Originally posted by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS
Zombies in Space!

sounds like a bad movie lol

Or an overpriced call of duty add on.

Frankly, I don't have a clue what the Air Force was doing up there for a year...I'll be honest, and put that on the table right up front.

There are some things that are known, or can be guessed with fair accuracy, though:
1) At least one of the stated goals of the flight was to test the long-term on-orbit capabilities of the vehicle. The best way to test those capabilities would be (at least in my opinion) to keep it up as long as possible. The fact that "as long as possible" was a year would seem to indicate a fairly good outcome for this phase of testing, but doesn't, in itself, indicate any hostile or conspiratorial intent.

2) Ground crews approaching the vehicle in "biohazard suits"...(I'd bet they were haz-mat suits, actually) isn't terribly unusual either, believe it or not. You'd see the same suits worn by recovery crews that de-fueled returned Space Shuttles, and you'll see them in McGregor TX when SpaceX does the final unloads on the Dragon that just got back from the ISS. Most of the fuels and oxidizing agents used in spacecraft thrusters are at the very least dangerous, and at the worst, down-right deadly. It's common sense and common practice to suit up in appropriate clothing when fueling vehicles before launch, and when de-fueling after landing. The "Radiation counters" could be air-sampling packs, to determine if (and to what extent) propellants were leaking from the vehicle. If I were part of the ground team, I'd certainly be carrying sampling equipment...I'd want to know *yesterday* if there was a liquid oxygen or hydrogen leak...and those are about the nicest things that you'll find leaking from a spacecraft, believe it or not.

3) I doubt there were any offensive weapons aboard, for a variety of reasons. For one, even though the mission was classified, the vehicle itself was the subject of fairly intensive scrutiny...not good if you're planning some sort of covert operation. It could have been a distraction, though...particularly since every time it started fading out of the headlines, the USAF would remind us that it was still up there. While we're watching the Super Secret Space Plane, who knows what was going up on a Delta or Atlas? :-D

I certainly wouldn't rule out an intelligence-gathering role for the craft...I also wouldn't rule out a pure bluff, running it as though it had intelligence gathering capability even if it didn't, just to make the Chinese take note.

Originally posted by DutchBigBoy
Wasn't this the same plane which NASA told the world they lost it?

No... that was: "The unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), designed as a global bomber prototype "

www.space-travel.com...