After spending about 22 months orbiting Earth on a mysterious mission, the U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned, reusable space plane finally returned to the ground on Friday.
The secretive spacecraft, which blasted off in December 2012 for its third space mission, touched down at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:24 a.m. local time (1624 GMT), the base announced.
"The mission is our longest to date and we're pleased with the incremental progress we've seen in our testing of the reusable space plane," the Air Force told media.
The program is being run by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, and there are two space planes in the fleet, both built in tight secrecy by Boeing.
The X-37B space planes look much like NASA's retired space shuttles, only much smaller. Each X-37B spacecraft is about 8.8 meters long and 4.5 meters wide.
Although media reports are abuzz with speculations about the true nature of the program, the Air Force said it is to "demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the United States Air Force."
GMT 16:03 2018 Wednesday ,28 November
Executive Office of Arab Ministers of Communications starts in CairoGMT 09:09 2018 Thursday ,15 November
Syria, Iran discuss enhancing scientific cooperationGMT 09:53 2018 Wednesday ,07 November
Drones bring innovation to Africa, from Morocco to MalawiGMT 11:31 2018 Wednesday ,17 October
Japan high-tech fair CEATEC opens in ChibaGMT 14:03 2018 Monday ,08 October
American scientists awarded 2018 Prize in Economic SciencesGMT 07:35 2018 Monday ,08 October
First foreign space agency opens in Abu DhabiGMT 10:47 2018 Sunday ,07 October
Bahrain hosts World Robotics Olympiad2018GMT 09:20 2018 Thursday ,04 October
UAE participates in World Space WeekMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor