NASA announced on Wednesday that the U.S. Air Force will take over the two space shuttle hangars at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its secretive space plane mission.
The Air Force will be occupying two of the three processing hangars for its two X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles (OTV). The 9-meter long vehicle is the smallest robotic, unmanned space plane intended to test reusable space technologies. According to Reuters, one of the OTVs was launched into orbit in space on December 2012 but the Air Force did not explain the purpose of the secretive mission.
The military decided to relocate the X-37B mission to Florida to reduce operation costs. Prior to the relocation, the space planes are launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station near the Kennedy Space Center and landed in California. With the new hangars, the landings took place on the Kennedy runway.
Space Florida, the agency tasked by the state of Florida to handle all matters concerning the state's space industry, provided $9 million for the renovation of the hangars for the X-37B mission. Boeing, which built and maintains the X-37B vehicles, also contributed $4.5 million. The renovation is expected to complete by end of this year.
While the two hangars are dedicated to the Air Force, the third shuttle hangar will be used by Boeing to store its commercial passenger space taxis. These vehicles are expected to be travelling to the International Space Station by 2017.
Both lease contracts are good for 15 years.
"Kennedy is positioning itself for the future, transitioning to a multi-user launch facility for both commercial and government customers, while embarking on NASA's new deep-space exploration plans," Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana said in a press release. "A dynamic infrastructure is taking shape, designed to host many kinds of spacecraft and rockets."
