from Wikipedia
Lift-off for military spaceplane
[Via BBC News | Science/Nature]
The X-37B, which has been likened to a scaled-down space shuttle, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 0052 BST (1952 EDT).
The military vehicle is unpiloted and will carry out the first autonomous re-entry and landing in the history of the US space programme.
The spacecraft can return experiments to Earth for inspection and analysis
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It looks like some smaller cousin of the shuttle. While no one really is talking about what it can do, the idea that it essentially can become a maneuverable satellite, moving to higher r lower orbit as needed and perhaps returning when it needs new equipment, is a fascinating idea.
It will be interesting to see what this unmanned ship is capable of.
A Man With A Ph.D. 
