The US Air Force Thursday launched its first Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), also called the X-37B – the unmanned space shuttle-like craft designed for orbiting the Earth and subsequently landing via remote piloting.

The Boeing-manufactured X-37B took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:52 p. m. EDT, atop an Atlas V rocket, launched by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture - United Launch Alliance. The 11,000-pound space plane is nearly 29 feet long and has a wingspan of almost 15 feet.

Though there has been no official disclosure from the Air Force about either the purpose of the spacecraft or about the payloads it is carrying, the plane has been designed to stay in orbit for three months.

Once the X-37B accomplishes its undisclosed mission, the duration of which has also been kept a secret, it is scheduled to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Noting that the X-37B will essentially serve as a platform for experiments and will offer insights on carrying satellite sensors and other equipment to space and back, Air Force deputy undersecretary for space programs, Gary Payton, said: “If these technologies on the vehicle prove to be as good as we estimate, it will make our access to space more responsive, perhaps cheaper, and push us in the vector toward being able to react to warfighter needs more quickly.”