Say hello to the "mini-Space Shuttle."

The X-37B is a U.S. Space Force, NASA, and DARPA-operated reusable spaceplane.

Built by Boeing, it is more commonly known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV); just as the Shuttle Orbiters Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour were winged craft, so is the X-37B.

However, at one-quarter the size of a Shuttle Orbiter it's far too small to carry people (it was never designed for that) and is capable of staying in space far longer than the Shuttle's approximate 18 day limit.

The X-37B can launch atop an Atlas V or Falcon 9 rocket loaded inside their respective payload fairings. After reaching orbit, it maneuvers in space for years before reentering and landing like a plane.

The X-37B can land on any military runway in the U.S. However, after proving its guidance and target abilities for landing in sparsely populated desert areas around California, its first-choice landing site is now a runway at Kennedy Space Center -- just a couple miles from the spaceplanes’ processing hangers. Those facilities are mere feet from NASA's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building.

Officially, the X-37B is meant to test "new, reusable space technologies." However, numerous reports have claimed the spaceplane has other uses not being disclosed.

These supposed activities include reconnaissance, testing of futuristic propulsion technologies, use as a spy satellite, and as a test platform for new space weapons systems.

Of the above claims, only the X-37B's use as a space weapons transport or test platform has been directly denied by the U.S. government.

The total amount of time the spaceplane can stay in orbit has not been disclosed. The longest mission to date -- OTV-5 -- lasted 779 days 17 hours 51 minutes from launch to landing.

At 5,000 kg, it is the lightest and smallest spaceplane launched to date and is the second such spaceplane capable of autonomous landing after the Soviet shuttle Buran.

Atlas V: the workhorse of United Launch Alliance's rocket fleet.

The rocket is a mix of Russian and American technology, using the Russian RD-180 as the rocket's first stage engine, and is one of the most versatile rockets in the world with 20 possible configurations -- though only 10 have flown.

Stats

Height: 58.3 m (191 ft) with payload fairing, 52.4 m (172 ft) with Starliner.

Diameter: 3.81 m (12.5 ft)

Mass: 590,000 kg (1,300,000 lb)

Stages: 2 (3 with Star 48 upper stage)

Developed in the mid- to late-1990s, it is the fifth and last major version of the veteran Atlas rocket, which began flying in 1957.

Lockheed Martin designed and built Atlas V as part of the U.S. government's 1994 initiative to create an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program for national security missions.

The two companies with EELV rockets -- Lockheed Martin with Atlas V and Boeing with Delta IV -- merged in 2006, creating an effective U.S. market monopoly with United Launch Alliance (ULA).

For years, the U.S. government paid ULA over $800 million annually -- not for rockets or launches but for ULA to maintain their facilities to be ready to launch EELV missions.

Therefore, pricing of the Atlas V has varied greatly over the years, with a basic Atlas V 401 (no boosters and a single-engine second stage) costing anywhere from the high-$90 millions to $163 million USD in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Sweeping price and cost-per-launch figure reductions have occurred since SpaceX began directly competing against ULA in the 2010s.

The Atlas V’s 501 variant costs a minimum of $120 million USD.

While not the cheapest rocket on the market, the Atlas V's safety and success record are unparalleled -- with a 100% mission success rating.

Atlas V 511

This mission will use the Atlas V 511 variant - with a five-meter payload fairing (5), one side-mounted solid rocket boosters (1), and a single engine Centaur upper stage (1).

The first flight of this variant will be the USSF-8 mission for the U.S. Space Force.

Image: ULA

Space Launch Complex-41 is the east-coast home of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket.

The pad hosted its first launch on December 21st, 1965 and is currently being upgraded to serve ULA's Vulcan rocket no earlier than 2022.

Vulcan and Atlas V will share the pad for several years before the Atlas is retired.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, SLC-41 was used for the U.S. Air Force’s Titan III and Titan IV rockets.

It has been the launch site of many notable missions:

• the Helios probes to study the Sun
• the Viking missions to Mars
• the Voyager interstellar probes
• the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• New Horizon to Pluto and Kuiper Belt
• Juno to Jupiter.

The pad will soon start launching humans on Boeing's Starliner capsule beginning no earlier than 2024.

Located on Florida’s east coast, Cape Canaveral is ideally located to allow access to a wide variety of space destinations that can be reached while safely launching over the open Atlantic Ocean so as not to endanger anyone on the ground.

The Cape currently supports the launch of four different rocket families: Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9, and Minotaur.

Launches of Vulcan from ULA and New Glenn from Blue Origin are set to begin no earlier than 2024 with current schedules.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which occupies neighboring Merritt Island, and Cape Canaveral are often confused with each other or referred to as a single place.

They are in fact separate government installations but united as a single “Eastern Range” for launch operations.

Over its history, the spaceport has held the following names:

• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (1949-1963)
• Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (1963-1973)
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (1973-2020)
• Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (2020-present)

Credit: ULA