US Military's Next X-37B Space Plane Launch Faces New Delay

from space.com: The next launch of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane, a robotic spacecraft used to fly classified payloads into Earth orbit, has been delayed until next month pending final approvals, SPACE.com has learned. The secretive X-37B space plane, an Orbital Test Vehicle that resembles a miniature space shuttle, is now expected to be boosted in early December by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It marks the latest in a series of delays for the unmanned space plane. The mission, called OTV-3, had been pushed back from Oct. 25 to Nov. 13, and then to Nov. 27. "We are working toward a planning date for OTV of Dec. 11," United Launch Alliance spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in a message to SPACE.com yesterday (Nov. 20).