Posted: Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 7:14 AM ET (1214 GMT)
The second flight of the Air Force's classified X-37B spaceplane will be extended beyond its original end this week. An Atlas 5 launched the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 2 in March on what was originally announced to be a 270-day mission, which meant the spaceplane would have landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this Wednesday. Air Force officials said this week the mission will be extended for an unspecified period to "extract the maximum value" from the mission. The uncrewed spaceplane flew an initial test flight in 2010, landing at Vandenberg after 224 days in space.
