USA-226
| Mission type | Demonstration |
|---|---|
| Operator | U.S. Air Force |
| COSPAR ID | 2011-010A |
| Mission duration | 468 days, 13 hours, 2 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Boeing X-37B |
| Manufacturer | Boeing |
| Launch mass | 5,400 kg (11,900 lb) |
| Power | Deployable solar array, batteries |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 5 March 2011, 22:46:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Atlas V 501 |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 16 June 2012, 12:48:00 UTC |
| Landing site | Vandenberg, Runway 12 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Semi-major axis | 6,662 km (4,140 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.0008 |
| Perigee | 278.5 km (173.1 mi) |
| Apogee | 289.3 km (179.8 mi) |
| Inclination | 41.9° |
| Period | 90.2 min |
| Mean motion | 15.96 |
| Epoch | 30 May 2012, 02:23:10 UTC |
USA-226 is the first flight of the second Boeing X-37B, the Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (X-37B OTV-2), an American unmanned robotic vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing spaceplane. It was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on 5 March 2011, and landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base on 16 June 2012. It operated in low Earth orbit. Its mission designation is part of the USA series.
The spaceplane was operated by the United States Air Force, which has not revealed the specific identity of the payload for the first flight. The Air Force stated only that the spacecraft would "demonstrate various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components, and associated technology to be transported into space and back."
OTV-2 was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket, tail number AV-026, on 5 March 2011 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It was scheduled to launch on the previous day, 4 March, but weather prevented the launch on that day, forcing the reschedule to 5 March.
The launch was conducted by United Launch Alliance.
The X-37B spacecraft was originally intended to be deployed from the payload bay of a NASA Space Shuttle, but following the Columbia accident, it was transferred to a Delta II 7920, then subsequently transferred to the Atlas V following concerns over the X-37B's aerodynamic properties during launch.
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