A US military drone landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, almost two and a half years after it was in orbit, Boeing said.
Boeing said in statement The X-37B unmanned shuttle, which first flew in 2010, has spent a total of more than 10 years in space and traveled more than 1.3 billion miles in six missions.
“This mission highlights the Space Force’s focus on cooperation in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners both inside and outside the Department of the Air Force,” said Gen. Chans Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations.
The X-37B was secretly launched and developed for the United Launch Alliance Air Force as part of a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The aircraft is 30 feet (9 meters) long, has a wingspan of 15 feet and is powered by solar panels.
And before the last launch of the aircraft in May 2020, the Pentagon initiated a series of scientific experiments that it will conduct.
He said the mission was to test how certain materials interact in space, evaluate how ambient radiation affects space, and convert solar radiation into radioelectric energy.
Source: Science Alert.
