The latest mission of the U.S. Space Force's mysterious X-37B space plane is underway.

The robotic X-37B lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida tonight (Aug. 21) at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 GMT on Aug. 22).

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth as planned 8.5 minutes later, touching down at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is next door to KSC. The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the X-37B toward low Earth orbit, where the space plane will do a variety of work, some of it quite hush-hush. It's unclear when and exactly where the X-37B will be deployed; SpaceX ended its launch webcast just after rocket landing, at the Space Force's request.

The 29-foot-long (8.8 meters) X-37B looks like a miniature version

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