45 SW launches 5th OTV mission

The 45th Space Wing successfully launched a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 10 a.m. Sept. 7.

Approximately eight minutes after the launch, SpaceX successfully landed the Falcon 9 first-stage booster at Landing Zone 1 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Falcon 9 rocket carried into orbit an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), marking the fifth space flight for the X-37B program and its first onboard a Falcon 9.

Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander, thanked the entire OTV-5 mission team for their efforts in ensuring a successful launch.

“I’m incredibly proud of the 45th Space Wing’s contributions to the X-37B program,” Monteith said. “This marks the fifth successful launch of the OTV and its first onboard a Falcon 9.  A strong relationship with our mission partners, such as the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, is vital toward maintaining the Eastern Range as the World’s Premiere Gateway to Space.”

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is led by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office with its operations overseen by Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron. The OTV is designed to demonstrate reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operate experiments, which can be returned to and examined on Earth.