Posted on 05/08/2017 10:28:21 AM PDT by blam
The US military's X-37B space plane landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, ending its record-breaking 718-day orbit with a sonic boom during its first landing in Florida.
The US Air Force has two X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles, which it calls its newest and most advanced reentry spacecraft.
At 29 feet long and with a 14-foot wingspan, the planes are about one-quarter of the size of NASA's now retired space shuttles and have a cargo bay about the size of a pick-up truck's.
The first X-37 program started in 1999, and the X-37B first flew in April 2010, returning after eight months in flight.
The next mission, launched in March 2011, was 15 months long, and the third mission in December 2012 lasted 22 months.
"Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B," Air Force Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, the commander of the 45th Space Wing, said in a release.
The most recent X-37B mission, launched in May 2015, brings the orbital test vehicle program to a total of 2,085 days spent in orbit.
Amateur astronomers have been able to spot the craft through telescopes and observed it at relatively low altitudes — a little less than 200 miles up, according to some, which is lower than the International Space Station.
What the X-37Bs have doing during those 2,085 days in orbit is less clear, however.
The X-37B program "performs risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies," the Air Force said in its release.
The Air Force has said the program is testing "advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Ping.
They take super hi-res pics, probably.................
;^)
Ugly little thing.
WOW! That is Cool!
Surely this is unmanned.
Yes.
Oil change, wash and wax and she’ll be ready to go again ;o)
I don’t know the all the details, but it’s certain bees are involved. Look at all those bee-keepers.
Kick the tires, a coat of wax...
Remote sensing of all kinds.
Doomsday machine. My tinfoil hat is on.
Sssshhh!
Now, you’ve said too much!
Look at all the meteorite dings on the nose.
Yes it is unmanned. And don’t call me surely
Yes, “need to know” and all...
“:^)
Back from Mars so soon.
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