Air Force Launches Secretive X_37B Space Plane

The United States Air Force's secretive X-37B robotic space plane blasted off from Florida late Thursday on a mystery mission shrouded in secrecy for the U.S. military.

The unmanned military Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1) – also known as the X-37B – lifted off at 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT) atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a mission that is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies.

I chose the Title: Star Wars: It has begun... for many reasons, Obviuosly because of it's implications and the nickname given to a project that was introduced by US President Ronald Reagan [SDI]. I will admit that during his term and still to this day there are many who are skeptical that such a system could actually be developed and or deployed. After reading many posts and replies here at ATS I've come to the conclusion that many still fail to grasp the concept of the potential of modern technology. But before we begin we need to dispel a modern societal misconception. Many here have small {Tiny by 80s technological standards} devices. [All Made In China].

There seems to be a good deal of confusion with regards to the definition of "High-Tech". More often than not people view the latest retail consumer gadgets as such and not understand what real State-Of-The-Art-High-technology is. Although admittedly what most civilians have access to these days such as Thumb-Drives-Flash-drives, Cell phones, I-pads-Think pads etc etc etc, these devices most often contain more computing power and memory per square inch than existed in the entire planet before the 1970s. Not to mention what we used to get to the moon.

So depending on ones perspective, yes they can be viewed in that manner, However the rule of thumb is that what we as civilians know of and or use that is available to the general public is about 30 to 40 years behind what the various secret Black Budget projects are working on and have already developed.

Keep that in mind!

Continue here : http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread663600/pg1