The Air Force successfully launched a X-37B space plane this afternoon at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a Atlas V rocket.

The vehicle  was first launched in 2010 but the secrecy surrounding its mission and capabilities remains.

“The primary objectives of the X-37 are a new batch of reusable technologies for America’s future, plus learning and demonstrating the concept of operations for reusable experimental payloads,” a military spokesman informed reporters in 2010.