NEWS SpaceX will launch US Air Force secret X-37B spaceplane in August

SpaceX has secured a contract to launch the uncrewed X-37B spaceplane, a secret military spacecraft created by the U.S. Air Force that’s kind of like a compact space shuttle, but whose functional purpose is ultimately kept under wraps.

The Verge reports that SpaceX’s launch services for a launch of the X-37B in August atop a Falcon 9 were confirmed via a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The X-37B has been to space before; it actually just got back to Earth last month, so it won’t be out of action for long. That was the spacecraft’s fourth mission, during each of which it has carried secretive payloads to orbit, over fairly long stretches (the last mission ran 718 days.)