<story><title>Unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane lands after secret, two-year mission</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-military-spaceplane-idUSKBN1830PF</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Animats</author><text>This is the X-37B.  There&amp;#x27;s a contract for an X-37C, 1.8x as big and possibly capable of carrying humans.[1]  That would be a nice little spacecraft.  It&amp;#x27;s time to get past capsules, without building something as big and fragile as the Space Shuttle.  The USAF and Boeing aren&amp;#x27;t saying much about it, though.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.spacesafetymagazine.com&amp;#x2F;aerospace-engineering&amp;#x2F;spacecraft-design&amp;#x2F;boeing-x-37c&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.spacesafetymagazine.com&amp;#x2F;aerospace-engineering&amp;#x2F;spa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane lands after secret, two-year mission</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-military-spaceplane-idUSKBN1830PF</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tammer</author><text>Surprised nobody&amp;#x27;s mentioned this possibility as it usually comes up re: the X-37B. Terrifying but I think not out of the question given the strategic potential of such a weapon.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Kinetic_bombardment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Kinetic_bombardment&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>