Message posted by Peter Merlin on April 07, 2006 at 8:12:39 PST:

The X-37 made a successful free flight this morning.

I was at Edwards South Base and had a spectacular view of the entire flight. The X-37 was carried aloft from Mojave Airport by the Sclaed Composites "White Knight" mothership, and accompanied by the Beech Starship chase plane. Following a climb to altitude, the unmanned X-37 was released and glided to touchdown on Runway 22.

For an unpowered glider, it is a surprisingly noisy vehicle. The aerodynamic noise makes it sound like a jet.

Touchdown was smooth, but the X-37 ran off the west end of the runway and into the weeds. It appeared undamaged.

The Starship made a dramatic low-level pass over the X-37 a few minutes later.

Replies:

• Re: OT: X-37 Plan8 04/09/2006, 21:41:59 PST (2)
  • Re: OT: X-37 Peter Merlin 04/10/2006, 10:43:27 PST (1)
    • Re: OT: X-37 Plan8 04/10/2006, 13:02:42 PST (0)