The U.S. Air Force launched an Atlas V rocket on Tuesday with an unmanned mini-shuttle inside that will conduct a secret mission in space.

The rocket was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force station. The launch was almost scrubbed due to heavy cloud coverage but it cleared just in time for the rocket to bring the military shuttle successfully into orbit.

An information blackout took place after it was confirmed that the rocket reached its desired location and the project went into classified mode. This is typically how other classified military missions have taken place after being launched from the Cape Canaveral, Fla. site.

"The focus of the program remains on testing vehicle capabilities and proving the utility and cost-effectiveness of a reusable spacecraft," Air Force spokesperson Tracy Bunko said to Reuters.

The rocket carried up the X-37B experimental space plane, which is also known as an Orbital Test Vehicle. The reusable mini-shuttle is one of two that is operated by the Air Force and it previously spent a total of 224 days in the Earth's orbit during its first mission in 2010.

A second mission using the sister shuttle launched last year and landed successfully after a 469-day space trip. The Air Force has not elaborated on the third mission of the X-37B or how long it will remain in orbit.

This is the first time that the shuttle has been reused for an operation.

Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told The Christian Science Monitor about the shuttles second flight, saying, "That's something that has only really been done with the shuttle."

While it's unknown what the shuttle's purpose in orbit is, McDowell said that the shuttle is equipped with advanced spying technology that could potentially be used on targets in the Middle East.