SpaceX delayed the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the secretive X-37B spacecraft by at least one day due to weather

Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced Sunday that a planned Space Force mission involving the U.S. military’s secretive X-37B spacecraft has been pushed back a day due to the weather.

由於天氣原因，SpaceX 將運載秘密X-37B 航天器的獵鷹重型火箭的發射推遲了至少一天埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk) 的SpaceX 週日宣布，計劃中涉及美國軍方秘密X-37B 航天器的太空部隊任務已推遲一天。天氣。

The launch was initially scheduled to occur Sunday at 8:14 p.m. ET at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida but has been delayed to the same time Monday evening when weather conditions are expected to be more conducive to the launch. 

發射最初定於週日晚上 8:14 進行。東部時間在佛羅裡達州美國宇航局肯尼迪航天中心舉行，但已推遲到週一晚上的同一時間，預計天氣條件更有利於發射。

SpaceX said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it’s "Now targeting Monday, December 11 for Falcon Heavy’s launch of the USSF-52 mission, with favorable weather conditions forecasted to improve to 70% favorable for liftoff on Monday night."

SpaceX 在X（原Twitter）上發文稱，「現在目標是12 月11 日星期一，獵鷹重型火箭將執行USSF-52 任務，預計週一晚上有利的天氣條件將改善到70%，有利於發射。 」

The Boeing X-37B is an unmanned, robotic spacecraft operated by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office in collaboration with the Space Force based on an earlier variant of the spacecraft used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 

波音 X-37B 是一款無人駕駛機器人太空船，由空軍快速能力辦公室與太空軍合作運營，基於美國國家航空暨太空總署 (NASA) 使用的太空船的早期變體。

Also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, the X-37B is designed as a reusable spacecraft launched vertically into orbit by a launch vehicle and eventually re-enters Earth’s atmosphere as a spaceplane landing horizontally on a runway. 

X-37B 也稱為軌道測試飛行器，被設計為可重複使用的航天器，由運載火箭垂直發射進入軌道，最終作為水平降落在跑道上的航天飛機重新進入地球大氣層。

The Air Force has said it’s the first vehicle since NASA’s shuttle orbiter with the ability to return experiments to Earth for analysis. 

美國空軍表示，這是自美國太空總署太空梭軌道飛行器以來第一架能夠將實驗送回地球進行分析的飛行器。

While much of its operations and testing remains secret, the service said in a fact sheet that technologies tested by the X-37B include advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high-temperature structures and seals, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and autonomous orbital flight.

雖然其大部分操作和測試仍然保密，但該部門在一份情況說明書中表示，X-37B 測試的技術包括先進導引、導航和控制、熱保護系統、航空電子設備、高溫結構和密封件、保型可重複使用絕緣材料、輕型機電飛行系統、先進推進系統、先進材料及自主軌道飛行。

The X-37B is designed to remain in space for extended-duration missions lasting at least 270 days – though some of its missions have lasted much longer. The X-37B’s fifth mission reached 780 days in orbit, while its sixth mission ran from May 17, 2020, to Nov. 12, 2022, a total of 908 days in orbit. 

X-37B 的設計目的是在太空中執行至少持續 270 天的長期任務——儘管它的一些任務持續的時間要長得多。 X-37B的第五次任務在軌道上運行了780天，第六次任務從2020年5月17日到2022年11月12日，總共在軌運行了908天。

In 2019, former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said the X-37 was "fascinating" because it can turn to alter its orbit when it’s close to the Earth. She added that "means our adversaries don’t know… where it’s going to come up next."

2019 年，前空軍部長希瑟威爾遜 (Heather Wilson) 表示 X-37“令人著迷”，因為它在接近地球時可以轉向改變軌道。她補充說，“這意味著我們的對手不知道……接下來會出現在哪裡。”

The upcoming X-37 mission would be the spacecraft’s seventh spaceflight since its debut in April 2010. It would be the first time an X-37 has been launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Its fifth mission was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, while the last mission used an Atlas V rocket.

即將執行的 X-37 任務將是該太空船自 2010 年 4 月首次亮相以來的第七次太空飛行。這將是 X-37 首次由 SpaceX 獵鷹重型火箭發射進入軌道。它的第五次任務是使用獵鷹 9 號火箭發射的，而最後一次任務則使用阿特拉斯 V 號火箭。