Tracking the X-37B (US Air Force secret shuttle)

Just a heads up for the sky watchers out there, now that the X-37B has been spotted and tracked by several sky watchers, it's flight path can now be predicted.

I have found Heavens Above to be the best source for tracking satellites, the ISS and the Shuttles (top secret ones included too lol).

And for those of you with iPhone's, this site has an app you can download to track satellites with.

Very cool, almost reason to buy an iPhone lol

Link here:

simpleflybys.com...

Oh and finally a picture of the X-37B flying over Texas:

reply to post by Chadwickus


Chadwickus.....

Very nice app!

Me & the tribe will have some fun with that!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


I'm going to have to wait until I get home before I can spot it.

For two reasons.

1. Too much light here at camp and we're not allowed to go walk about at night, a dingo might eat us!

2. I actually have no idea where I am, I have a rough idea but not close enough to input coordinates.

reply to post by Chadwickus


Chadwickus.....

Sydney weather forecast for the next 4-5 days.....rain, showers, showers, rain.....!

I guess I won't see much for a few days either.

Watch out for the bunyips!

Cheers mate
Maybe...maybe not

I actually heard about this a few days ago, pretty cool, I was going to go out this morning, failed to wake up in time. Had a chance tonight as well. But as usual the weather man who says sure it will be Mostly clear, meant Mostly cloudy, the fools! Oh well guess I will have to be more patient, and less lazy.Still a pretty cool thing I love stargazing and satellite and shuttle tracking.

That is sooo cool. Thanks for the info.

Wonder what its doing...besides shooting through space.

Shot a video of tracking it tonight with my LX200. It flared up really bright at 1:36 in the video for some reason, possibly a reflection off of its solar panel? ISS will do that sometimes, but I thought that was mainly due to the radiators, not the solar panels. This might tell us something about the configuration of the shuttle.

reply to post by ngchunter


That's a really neat video ngc. Do you plan to record more? Is it possible to get any still images of it, like your ISS pics or would it be too small and not worth it?

reply to post by jra


Thanks JRA! There's another good pass tonight that I plan to record if I have the time. It's so much smaller than even the shuttle that I really need to add a 2x barlow into the mix to have any hope of resolving detail. I'll do that tonight; I didn't want to do that on the first pass so that I could at least be sure to get "something." If I succeed I'll make a still by stacking several adjacent video frames together.

Here's 2 stacked frames from a video I shot of the X-37 last night. I resolved something of a shape by using a 2x barlow, but the vibrations in the mount were too severe for the overall video quality to be any good. I just picked out a couple of frames that were vibration free and stacked them together; the shape is definitely not from the vibration as it shook the image in a perpendicular direction to the long axis of the vehicle.

farm5.static.flickr.com...

Good video and image ngchunter, thanks for sharing.

Do you have any more passes coming overhead?

Originally posted by Chadwickus
Good video and image ngchunter, thanks for sharing.

Do you have any more passes coming overhead?

Thanks. The X-37B won't have any really good passes for two weeks at least. ISS is next on my agenda; good passes for that resume next week.

[edit on 28-5-2010 by ngchunter]

I'm glad this spacecraft is so intriguing for some because for me, it is infuriating. I see it as nothing but a tool to instigate more acts of aggression against the U.S.

You don't launch a vessel like this into orbit under a blanket of secrecy with our foreign relations in certain countries on such shaky ground and not expect there to be the potential for backlash. Once again, Americans are put in harms way by their own government.

That's what this spacecraft represents to me, anyway.

reply to post by Chadwickus


WHAT? She is over Texas? Dang it I miss everything fun

Seriously can someone tell me what time to look out in the sky. I would love to see her fly over head.

Originally posted by ngchunter

Originally posted by Chadwickus
Good video and image ngchunter, thanks for sharing.

Do you have any more passes coming overhead?

Thanks. The X-37B won't have any really good passes for two weeks at least. ISS is next on my agenda; good passes for that resume next week.

[edit on 28-5-2010 by ngchunter]

Answered my question.. derr.. should have read the whole thread before jumping in and asking. Sorry gang.

Please give us a heads up, I would love to see her fly!

Originally posted by Justaposter
Answered my question.. derr.. should have read the whole thread before jumping in and asking. Sorry gang.

Please give us a heads up, I would love to see her fly!

Actually your question is location-specific. Check this website using your city and see when you can see it, because it may not be the same times that I can see it:
www.heavens-above.com...

Originally posted by NightGypsy
You don't launch a vessel like this into orbit under a blanket of secrecy with our foreign relations in certain countries on such shaky ground and not expect there to be the potential for backlash. Once again, Americans are put in harms way by their own government.

The national reconnaissance office launches satellites into orbit on a regular basis under a blanket of complete secrecy. This one is just higher profile than most due to its unique attributes. The way I see it, it provides the Air Force with the ability to rapidly respond to emerging threats such as anti-satellite weapons by "plugging holes," providing fresh coverage on demand, or perhaps even repairing other satellites. That makes it capable of saving soldiers' lives by seeing or listening in to get critical battlefield info in a dire situation, and for that I am thankful for it. I know my opinion probably isn't shared by many here though.

I found these pics and I didn`t see them posted before:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a6f122056757.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f270cd2d7fc7.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4b8ca13f1771.jpg[/atsimg]

www.universetoday.com...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Would you know of a website that would archive the data of flyovers? I think it would be useful for analyzing certain UFO sightings and such...

WOW A secret space shuttle

Imagine that

Who would have thought?