The X-37B is a bit like NASA's Space Shuttle — however it is uncrewed and launched as a payload as opposed to on the side of ...

According to Boeing, the space plane orbits between 150-500 miles above the Earth. Due to the X-37B being a classified Space Force mission, details remain limited.

The mysterious Space Force space plane is headed back to the Florida launch pad. The Boeing-built X-37B is ready to see its eighth mission less than six months after completing its last.

Built by Boeing Co.’s advanced research lab, Phantom Works, in Huntington Beach, Calif., the X-37 would be the first U.S. unmanned spacecraft to be launched into space and land on its own.

With that craft scheduled to be retired from service next year the U.S. Air Force's Boeing X-37 program is focused on demonstrating a next generation unmanned reusable spaceplane.

X-37C The paper that Grantz delivered to the AIAA, "X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and Derivatives" [PDF summary], provides further insights into the X-37 including the possibility of a manned version.

The X-37B program has been an orphan of sorts, bouncing since its inception in 1999 between several federal agencies, NASA among them. It now resides under the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office.