Details Revealed On New Space Plane

A wee bit of information about the highly secret X-37B slips out.

The X-37B orbital space plane, essentially a mini-shuttle, will be placed into Earth orbit and loiter in space for an unspecified period of time. It will then reenter for an auto-pilot landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, or at neighboring Edwards Air Force Base as back-up.

Not much else is known.

It's a tight-lipped affair, with its builder — Boeing Phantom Works — pledged to retain vocal silence on the flight — advising this reporter here that they "defer to the customer" — the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

Some new details about the X-37B space plane have been made available, provided by Angie Blair, an Air Force spokeswoman for the project during this week's 26th National Space Symposium held here.