- The U.S. military’s top-secret unmanned space plane landed in Florida on Saturday after spending a record 908 days in orbit.
- The military space craft appears as a miniature space shuttle and flew an earlier mission for 780 days.
- During its just completed mission, the space plane carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, U.S. Air Force Academy and others.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: The U.S. military’s top-secret unmanned space plane landed in Florida on Saturday after spending a record 908 days in orbit.
This was its sixth mission.
The military space craft appears as a miniature space shuttle and flew an earlier mission for 780 days.
“Since the X-37B’s first launch in 2010, it has shattered records and provided our nation with an unrivaled capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,” said Jim Chilton, a senior vice president for Boeing, its developer, as quoted by the Associated Press.
During its just completed mission, the space plane carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, U.S. Air Force Academy and others.
Among the experiments was the FalconSat-8 satellite, which was built by academy cadets in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. The satellite has been in orbit since October 2021.
Another experiment sought to learn about the effects of long-duration space exposure on seeds.
“This mission highlights the Space Force’s focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, according to the Associated Press.
The military space craft, the X-37Be, has flown over 1.3 billion miles and spent 3,774 days in space.
