One Drone Aircraft maker Boeing said the US Armed Forces spacecraft landed Saturday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida after spending nearly two and a half years in orbit.
The unmanned shuttle, whose maiden flight began in 2010, has spent a total of more than a decade in space during its six missions, the company added in a statement.
The X-37B “continues to break records and provide our country with an unparalleled ability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,” said Jim Chilton, vice president of Boeing Aerospace.
Boeing built plane #X37B landed in Tweet embedmarking the end of her sixth mission with Tweet embed🇧🇷 The award-winning space plane broke another record for endurance, spending 908 days in orbit.
Release: https://t.co/xMvHGxqlwA pic.twitter.com/EeSiR2hDQB
Boeing Space 12 November 2022
The unmanned vehicle, powered by solar panels, is nine meters long and has a wingspan of 4.5 meters and was designed by the United Launch Alliance, a consortium of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, for the U.S. Air Force.
The Pentagon had lifted the veil on its goals before its latest launch in May 2020, adding that the 908-day mission aims to test the interactions of specific materials in space, evaluate the effects of radiation on a chain of seeds and convert solar radiation into radioelectric energy.
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