---
title: "US Space Force Launches Secretive Spacecraft"
description: "The newly-minted US Space Force launched a secretive Boeing spacecraft this weekend, loaded with military and NASA equipment."
date: "2020-05-18"
modified: "2020-05-18"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-space-force-secretive-spacecraft"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "Space Force"
tags:
  - "military"
  - "space"
  - "space force"
  - "the digest"
---

# US Space Force Launches Secretive Spacecraft

![The newly-minted US Space Force launched a secretive Boeing spacecraft this weekend, loaded with military and NASA equipment.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/us-space-force-secretive-spacecraft.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Boeing/Futurism\</em\>*

## Space Plane

The newly-minted US Space Force launched a secretive Boeing spacecraft this weekend, in a mission that [reportedly contains](<https://www.space.com/x-37b-space-plane-space-force-otv-6-launch-success.html>) a payload of military and NASA experiments.

The spacecraft in question is the Boeing X-37B, an uncrewed space plane that looks like a tiny Space Shuttle and has already [spent long, mysterious periods](<https://futurism.com/air-force-space-plane-theories>) in the Earth's orbit under the purview of other branches of the US military.

https://twitter.com/considercosmos/status/1262379355289911298

## Force Field

Publicly-disclosed material on board the spacecraft, which [launched on](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/17/us/ula-atlas-v-rocket-launch-trnd/index.html>) an Atlas V rocket on Sunday from Cape Canaveral, include a [pair of NASA experiments](<https://www.space.com/x-37b-space-plane-space-force-otv-6-launch-success.html>) and equipment designed to test the possibility of beaming solar power down to Earth from space.

The Space Force has been a pet project of the Trump Administration, which debuted its Star Trek-esque flag last week in an [eyebrow-raising ceremony](<https://apnews.com/a220e50e50a7ae16581311998a17189b>) during which the president bragged about a "super-duper missile."

**READ MORE:** [Space Force launches robotic X-37B space plane on new mystery mission](<https://www.space.com/x-37b-space-plane-space-force-otv-6-launch-success.html>) \[*Space.com*\]

**More on the X-37B:** [What Was the Air Force’s Secret Space Plane Doing in Orbit for 779 Days?](<https://futurism.com/air-force-space-plane-theories>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)