Daily Report posted items Friday on Thursday’s two launches: 1) the Boeing-built reusable X-37B orbital test vehicle aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in its trimmed down 501 configuration (see X-37B Boosted into Space); and 2) first launch of an Orbital Sciences Corp. suborbital Minotaur IV Lite, boosting DARPA’s HTV-2 into the upper atmosphere for its planned 30-minute, 13,000 mph streak over the Pacific (see Minotaur IV Lite Boosts Hypersonic Vehicle).
B-52 Stratofortresses popped up from the Middle East to North Africa to the Arctic in recent days, as the U.S. Air Force flexed the reach of its bomber fleet.