Space Plane spends 780 days in orbit.

I think that's the plan... They send it up and leave it there sooooooo long that no one remembers that it is there. I can just see the event reminder popping up on some USAF colonel's Outlook calendar...
 
I wonder if they will ever construct a version of this space manned thats manned .:unsure:
 
I wonder if they will ever construct a version of this space manned thats manned .:unsure:
The world's militaries largely gave up on manned spaceflight with the rise of computers and automation, although the USSR was IIRC some way behind the US in that regard - humans are actually better at a lot of things, but so much more effort and complexity to keep alive (I am a bit of an obsessive on this stuff).

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the X37b fleet has largely been doing long term test on innovative but not that interesting (to us laypeople) technology... but I also wouldn't be surprised to learn they had been doing testing (and perhaps even subtly demonstrating) 'dual use' technologies and capabilities. So, for example, satellite interception and retrieval abilities, or the ability to loiter on orbit and change orbit on short notice to avoid an interception.
 

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