But I think this thing is so damn cool.

It spent a year up there and is coming home, that's amazing science.

No astronauts on board?

In fact, it's not designed to ever carry people.

With a 3,000 word article, no less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37

Much like the classified space shuttle DOD missions some of which were no doubt installing Keyhole satellites in orbit.

President Thomas Whitmore: I don't understand, where does all this come from? How do you get funding for something like this?

Julius Levinson: You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/quotes

NASA's been wracked by budgetary concerns as it tries to figure out how to do research into the origins of everything *and* loft human beings into orbit with big rockets. In particular, the space agency has been dealing with cost overruns on the next-generation Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, which have been eating up the science budget.

Now, we get word from the Washington Post that the Department of Defense has gifted two better-than-Hubble telescopes to NASA. That's right. Our military had two, unflown, better-than-Hubble space telescopes just sitting around. This story is almost unbelievable; it feels like a hoax. But it's not.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/hey-brother-can-you-spare-a-hubble-dod-sure-have-two/258061/