A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off late on Thursday carrying the United States military’s secretive X-37B space drone.
The rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre at 11:50 pm local time (03:50 GMT on Friday), lighting up the night sky, according to SpaceX’s live broadcast.
The US Space Force said the mission would cover “a wide range of test and experimentation objectives,” including next-generation technologies. These involve laser communications and what it described as the most advanced quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space.
“Mission 8 will contribute to improving the resilience, efficiency, and security of US space-based communications architectures,” the service stated last month.
Roughly the size of a small bus, the X-37B resembles a scaled-down version of NASA’s retired space shuttle. First launched in 2010, it was developed by Boeing’s United Launch Alliance for the US Air Force.
The reusable craft, officially known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, is 30 feet (nine metres) long, has a wingspan of 15 feet, and runs on solar power. Previous missions have seen it carry out experiments for NASA.