SpaceX just launched a secret military space plane and then landed a rocket back on Earth
The Elon Musk-founded company SpaceX just launched a secret mission for the U.S. government to orbit.
The company then landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket back on land in Cape Canaveral, just days before Hurricane Irma is forecast to hit the area.
The mission is an unusual one for SpaceX.
Instead of its usual private satellites or cargo for NASA, SpaceX launched a secret, uncrewed space plane called the X-37B to orbit for the Air Force, marking the spaceflight company's first launch for the Air Force.
This is the fifth mission of the X-37B, which is an uncrewed orbital vehicle that can spend years in space without coming back to Earth.
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It's not clear exactly what the plane does while in orbit, but the Air Force has released some non-specific information.
"The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold; reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth," the Air Force said in a statement.
The Air Force operates two of the planes, which are 29 feet long and 9 feet 6 inches high, weighing in at 11,000 pounds at launch.
The last X-37B mission came to a close in May when the plane landed in Florida after spending 718 days in orbit.
It's unclear how long this next mission will be, but it could be another record breaker.
This mission marks SpaceX's 16th rocket landing.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
