An unmanned US military space plane has returned to Earth after spending 908 days in orbit on its sixth mission following scientific experiments.
According to Russia Today, the solar-powered vehicle, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, has landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and its previous mission lasted 780 days.
"Since the X-37B was first launched in 2010, it has broken records and provided our nation with an unparalleled ability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies," said Jim Shelton, senior vice president of Boeing, developer of the aircraft.
For the first time, the space plane hosted a service unit that transferred experiments to the Naval Research Laboratory, the US Air Force Academy and others, and the unit was separated from the vehicle before leaving orbit to ensure a safe landing.
The aircraft conducted an experiment on a satellite called FalconSat-8, which was designed and built by USF Academy students in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory, launched in October 2021, and is still in orbit.
"This mission highlights the Space Force's
focus on cooperating in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, both within and outside the Air Force Department," said U.S. Air Force Space Operations Commander Chance Saltzman.
The X-37B plane flew more than 1.3 billion miles and spent a total of 3,774 days in space.
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