Will Allow For Quicker Turnarounds Of Secretive Space Plane

Boeing has signed an agreement with NASA to convert a former Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1) at Kennedy Space Center on Florida's central east coast into the new home for the Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. Boeing announced the agreement last Friday.

OPF-1 was the building where space shuttles were processed between flights. With the end of the shuttle program, the buildings had fallen dormant. Now, Boeing will use the facility to turn around the experimental spacecraft that resembles a "mini-shuttle" between flights.

Boeing's Phantom Works built the space plane for the Air Force. The agreement will allow the USAF to "efficiently land, recover, refurbish, and re-launch" the 29-foot-long unmanned spacecraft. The spacecraft is currently flying its third secret mission for the Air Force.

OPF-1 is the second OPF to fall under Boeing's purview at the space center. In October 2011, Boeing leased OPF-3 as part of its CST-100 program to build a spacecraft that could eventually transport astronauts to the International Space Station. Conversion of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF), as it is now known, is nearly finished, according to a report from space.com.

Boeing officials have said that the X-37 space plane could eventually be repurposed for civilian use, and in 2011 released a proposal for an X-37C spacecraft ... a larger version of the X-37B that might eventually carry cargo and even crews into space. 

(X-37B image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com/boeing/companyoffices/aboutus/brief/bds.page