OTV-5 (X-37B)

Mission

OTV-5 (X-37B)

Type: Government/Top Secret

It is the fifth flight of the X-37B program. United States Air Force Orbital Test Vehicle, built by Boeing, is an unmanned 5000 kg, 8.8 m-long reusable mini-spaceplane capable of autonomous re-entry and landing.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

182 launches have been at this location.

Rocket

Falcon 9 Block 4

Length: 71 meters
Diameter: 3.65 meters
First Launched: December 22, 2015

The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.

The Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket has been launched a total of 12 times with 12 successful and 0 failed launches.

Landing

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed at LZ-1.

Landing Zone 1 – LZ-1

LZ-1 Pad located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at the previous LC-13

Return to Launch Site – RTLS

A return to launch site usually means that after stage separation the booster flips and does a burn back towards the launch site, landing near where it initially launched from.

Agency

SpaceX

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: SpX
Administration: CEO: Elon Musk
Founded: 2002
Launchers: Falcon
Spacecraft: Dragon
Country: USA

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has many pads, on the East Coast of the US they own SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center for their lower inclination launches. They also own SLC-4E at Vandenberg, California for their high inclination launches. Another site is also being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.