Army technology significantly evolved lately, and the best example of that it the top-secret military space plane that landed after a two-year mission the Earth’s low orbit. The so-called secretive X-37B air vehicle, owned and operated by The Pentagon, landed in Florida on Sunday.
The space plane successfully finished its mission that lasted for the last two years. The US military kept the secrecy over this project, and we don’t have much information about the real tasks that the aircraft performed in Earth’s low orbit. We do know that the space plane was part of an extended test mission conducted by the US Air Force, during which the military probed various advanced technologies.
Boeing Co. designed and manufactured the space plane, the so-called X-37B. The aircraft touched the ground at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. ET, on Sunday, October 27th, after it spent about two years in our planet’s orbit.
Top-Secret Military Space Plane Landed After A Two-Year Mission In Earth’s Low Orbit
“The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane. Each successive mission advances our nation’s space capabilities,” explained Barbara Barrett, the new US Air Force secretary, in a statement.
“The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle breaks the record with 780 days in orbit after landing at NASA Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 3:51 a.m.,” the US Air Force said on Twitter. “The safe return of this spacecraft, after breaking its own endurance record, is the result of the innovative partnership between government and industry. The sky is no longer the limit for the Air Force and, if Congress approves, the U.S. Space Force,” added Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein in a press release.
The Pentagon seems more and more willful to develop and use space technologies for military purposes. The top-secret military space plane X-37B is the best example of such technology.