What happened to X-37A? Photo credit: USAF/Vandenberg Air Force Base

The Air Force is getting ready to launch the X-37B sooper-secret space plane Friday, March 4, 2011, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.  (Actually, it’s launching from the next-door Cape Canaveral Air Force Station)  It’s a big secret, though, so don’t expect launch-to-landing coverage on NASA TV for this puppy.  Unmanned, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound….  oops, sorry, I mean able to remain in orbit for up to 270 days, the new ship is a test platform for something.  What that something is, or what those somethings are, remain a secret.  So while the X-37B is a secret space plane, it’s not a secret, but what it does IS a secret.  Or something like that.  Read all about it at Space.com.  Well, not ALL about it.  Just something about it.  If we told you the rest, they’d have to kill you. And maybe us.  So let’s not go there.