X-37B mission

The U.S. Air Force's mysterious unmanned space plane, the X-37B, is about to come back to Earth after more than two

years in orbit on a mission the military won't tell us much about. The X-37B is expected to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The base did not give an exact time for the landing, but a notice to aviators and mariners on the Federal Aviation Administration's website said airspace around the Southern California base would be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Tuesday. The X-37B, which looks like a small space

shuttle, lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on December 11, 2012. At the time, the Air Force said its mission would last about nine months. The X-37B spacecraft is 29 feet, 3 inches long and 9 feet, 6 inches high with a wingspan of 14 feet and 11 inches. It weighs about 5.5 tons. It is lifted into

space by United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rockets. Technologies being tested in the program include advanced

guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, high temperature structures and seals, etc. But as the spacecraft has been in orbit for more than 22 months, speculation on other uses abounds, including testing of a

secret space weapon or spying activities.

In Other NewsIn Other News A United Nations medical worker who was infected with Ebola while working in

Liberia has died in Germany. His death further raises questions of just how equipped health officials are in dealing with cases of the disease.

A powerful 7.4-magnitude quake shook the Pacific coast of Central America on Tuesday, causing some damage and killing at least one person in El Salvador.

UK lawmakers have voted in the House of Commons to recognize Palestine as a state. The House of Commons reported, "That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution.” The measure is mainly symbolic and is not binding on the government. However, it lends added weight within Europe to calls for Palestinian statehood. Ten days earlier, the government in Sweden said it would recognize a Palestinian state. The UK government's official goal "is a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resulting in a secure and universally recognised Israel living alongside a sovereign and viable Palestinian state, based on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem the future capital of both states, and a just, fair and agreed solution for refugees.“ In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to grant the status of "non-member observer state," similar to the Vatican, giving Palestinians a certain implicit degree of statehood recognition. However, a Palestinian bid in 2011 for recognition as a full member of the United Nations failed. It became apparent that the bid was not going to receive the requisite nine of 15 Security Council votes, and the United States promised to veto it if it came to a vote.