Blastoff! X-37B Space Plane and LightSail Solar Sail Go Into Orbit

A hush-hush military space plane and a widely publicized solar-sail experiment shared a ride into orbit on Wednesday aboard an Atlas 5 rocket launched from Florida. The United Launch Alliance rocket rose from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 11:05 a.m. ET, carrying an X-37B mini-shuttle for the U.S. Air Force as well as 10 CubeSat nanosatellites that are taking a piggyback ride into space. The spacecraft are to be deployed within hours after launch. One of the satellites, known as LightSail, contains a 32-square-meter (344-square-foot) spread of highly reflective Mylar plastic that will be unfurled within a month to test solar sailing technology. More

(Source: NBC News - May 20)