(I apologize to my Children, Grandchildren and friends for making a joke out of a real event.
I will attempt to set the Record Straight right now)
1. I should have never used the initials UFO which means Unidentified Flying Object. The truth: I saw and photographed a Flying Object that was unidentifiable to me. It appears there are other people on this Earth who could identify it as soon as they saw my photos.
2. I should have never used the word Rocket or rocketship as these terms are no longer used. “in U. S. military parlance, when it reached orbit it became identified as:
“Catalog Number36514, 2010-015A,OTV-1(USA212),”
from an article dated Monday, May 24, according to Leonard David who is a Space Insider Columnist for SPACE.com. He named the column (which was featured in Yahoo News Page):
‘Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Skywatchers’ (attached)
Other Names I have found in the current news are as follows:
X-37B mini-space plane (Leonard David of Space.com)
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (Leonard David)
X-37B Spacecraft (Leonard David)
Air Force Launches Secretive X-37B Space Plane on Mystery Mission (Leonard David)
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) (Angie Blair, Air Force Spokeswoman)
“Air Force’s New X-37B Space Plane Likely an Orbital Spy”( by Jeremy Hsu, Senior Writer Space.com)
HAP for High Altitude Plane (by the people at the ufo reporting site who also said we would not see spent fuel trails if it were in space).
April 22 report by Leonard David:
“The United States Air Force’s secretive X-37 B Robotic Space Plane blasted off from Florida late Thursday (4-22) 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 expected to take months (270 days) testing new spacecraft technologies.
(I knew there was a rocket involved somewhere!)
3. I should have not said I saw a Rocket in Space which was orbiting the Earth as I have seen and photographed it on different days as I did not know that to be a fact.
We have an exact location now according to Ted Molczan on a site called: cryptogon.com:
“The X-37B is orbiting about 255 miles up (standard for a space shuttle) and circling the planet once every 90 minutes or so.
4. I should not have said there was a Pilot named Major Tom. (That is actually from a song on the rock opera: Tommy)
Truth is: There is No Pilot driving the spacecraft. (I told you the truth was stranger than my fiction). There is a robot in charge.
5. I should not have said it was burning rocket fuel when I did not know what rocket fuel consists of. This apparently runs on hydrogen peroxide and kerosene blend of some kind.
6. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was built by Boeing Phantom Works in Seal Beach California for the customer, U. S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office; although the project originated in 1999 for NASA, who later transferred it to the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in 2004 due to a lack of funding. The Air Force stepped in 2006 to take over the project.
7. It is 29 feet long with a wingspan of 14 feet. It is nine and one half feet tall and weighs close to 11,000 pounds. The X-37B carries 2 short vertical stabilizers in the back rather than one vertical as seen on the shuttle. There are several reasons for the V-tail ‘ruddervators’, says Angie Blair, spokeswoman for the project. (You can find this info at space.com).
8. It will orbit Earth and then reenter for an autopilot landing. Leonard David said not much else is known about it.
9. I am sorry I made a joke of them loosing the secret mini-shuttle space plane. But it was difficult to read the headlines: Secret X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Skywatchers by Yahoo News and authored by Leonard David who also states: “But thanks to a worldwide eyes-on-the-sky Network of amateurs, the spacecraft is reportedly in a 39.99 degrees inclination, circling the earth in an orbit 401 kilo by 422 kilo. This data may change slightly as the vehicle’s orbit is better refined, said Greg Roberts Of Cape Town, South Africa, a pioneer in using telescopic video cameras to track spacecraft, chalking up exceptional results over the years.” Mr. Roberts also said the fact that we have now seen it several times confirms that the orbit we have is very close to the real orbit. Another man in North America perhaps got a brief view of what he thinks is it, but he used binoculars.
According to Ted Molczan, a leader in the satellite sleuthing business based in Toronto, the X-37B search was moderately challenging. He said: “The object is moderately bright. Based on the limited tracking so far, I estimate it will reach about magnitude 2.5 when observed at high elevation above the horizon, and well illuminated by the sun. That is similar to the brightest stars of the big dipper.” The challenge is finding it with not much data to go on, Roberts said.
He stated further that the ‘sky watching group’ has a pretty good record for finding and tracking every single object launched. It is like finding a needle in a haystack.
So After this research I did on the internet, I am saying I am sorry for making a joke of this. I did not know there was a mission in Space going on right now. I am sorry I called it a UFO.
Now that being said, it appears that after only 4 or 5 people on Earth have seen this in the sky, I am quite lucky to have seen in on several occasions myself in the skies over Rolling Hills and the Cowboy Store and I seem to have THE ONLY PHOTOS OF Secret X-37B OTV-1 taken from the ground here on Earth by an Amateur Photographer.
Now that I have found out who owns it and who is looking for it, I will try to contact these people about my photos. Though on a previous post I offered to trade these photos for donation to my Bird Sanctuary, I am not going to offer the photos until I check with a representative of the owner. I do not believe there is a law anywhere stating that a person cannot photograph the sky, especially the sunset, but I will check it out first.
(Note) All of my work is copywrited and may not be used without my permission. Thank You.
As this is the first time I have heard of Skywatchers, I will post a photostudy now of what it first looked like to me when I was shooting a sunset for my Class. I want to encourage everyone to go out and look for it as it is so cool to see!. (In these first photos you will only see dots of light.) It was sort of scarey to not know what this was!
If you have seen it or photographed it here in Texas, contact me at:
katescabin@gmail.com
Happy Skywatching to All: from brendasue Watson of Kates Cabin On Rainbow Creek, A private Bird Sanctuary in Rolling Hills Colony, Waller County, Texas, USA, Earth
My blog site:
http://brendasue-katescabinatrainbowcreek.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html
I will now post the first sight of the X-37B Space Plane on May 25, 2010. (My first sighting was on May 22, 2010. photos previously posted).
Time stamp on camera: 8:56 p.m.
Time stamp on camera 8:57 p.m.
time stamp 8:57
8:57
8:57
8:57
8:58
9:03
this photo shown before on this site
9:03
this photo shown before on this site (couple of days ago)
9:03 p. m.
I have photos that go up to 9:10 p.m.
Once again I am deeply sorry to have laughed at the idea of a Space Plane Lost in Space. (Who knew?)
And flying with no Pilot? (I had no idea.)
I photograph Birds (real birds) for this Nature Book I am writing for my Grandchildren. I live in a cabin in the woods and have nothing to do with technology except my camera and computer.
I know alot of people are working very hard on this project and I did not mean to offend you.
In fact I have to tell you when I saw that flying it was beautiful, like nothing I had ever seen.
This concludes our Photostudy and Memorial Tribute to Sunsets and All That is in the View
...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.
