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.

由于天气原因，SpaceX 将运载秘密 X-37B 航天器的猎鹰重型火箭的发射推迟了至少一天埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 的 SpaceX 周日宣布，计划中涉及美国军方秘密 X-37B 航天器的太空部队任务已推迟一天。天气。

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. 

发射最初定于周日晚上 8:14 进行。东部时间在佛罗里达州美国宇航局肯尼迪航天中心举行，但已推迟到周一晚上的同一时间，预计天气条件更有利于发射。

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）上发帖称，“现在目标是 12 月 11 日星期一，猎鹰重型火箭将执行 USSF-52 任务，预计周一晚上有利的天气条件将改善到 70%，有利于发射。”

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 是一款无人驾驶机器人航天器，由空军快速能力办公室与太空军合作运营，基于美国国家航空航天局 (NASA) 使用的航天器的早期变体。

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 也称为轨道测试飞行器，被设计为可重复使用的航天器，由运载火箭垂直发射进入轨道，最终作为水平降落在跑道上的航天飞机重新进入地球大气层。

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. 

美国空军表示，这是自美国宇航局航天飞机轨道飞行器以来第一架能够将实验返回地球进行分析的飞行器。

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.

虽然其大部分操作和测试仍然保密，但该部门在一份情况说明书中表示，X-37B 测试的技术包括先进制导、导航和控制、热保护系统、航空电子设备、高温结构和密封件、保形可重复使用绝缘材料、轻型机电飞行系统、先进推进系统、先进材料和自主轨道飞行。

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 的设计目的是在太空中执行至少持续 270 天的长期任务——尽管它的一些任务持续的时间要长得多。 X-37B的第五次任务在轨运行了780天，第六次任务从2020年5月17日到2022年11月12日，总共在轨运行了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，前空军部长希瑟·威尔逊 (Heather Wilson) 表示 X-37“令人着迷”，因为它在接近地球时可以转向改变轨道。她补充说，“这意味着我们的对手不知道……接下来会出现在哪里。”

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.

即将执行的 X-37 任务将是该航天器自 2010 年 4 月首次亮相以来的第七次太空飞行。这将是 X-37 首次由 SpaceX 猎鹰重型火箭发射进入轨道。它的第五次任务是使用猎鹰 9 号火箭发射的，而最后一次任务则使用阿特拉斯 V 号火箭。