SPACE NEWS by Sandra Erwin — October 27, 2019
Secretary of the Air Force Barrett: 'The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane.'WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane successfully landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27 at 3:51 AM EST, the Air Force announced.
This was the fifth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. It flew for 780 days during this mission, breaking its own record by being in orbit for more than two years. As of today, the total number of days spent on-orbit for the entire test vehicle program is 2,865 days, the Air Force said. The spaceplane originally was designed to fly for just 270 days.
“The X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane,†Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said in a news release.
The mission, called OTV-5, was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Sept. 7, 2017.
More:
https://spacenews.com/air-force-x-37b-secret-spaceplane-lands-after-780-days-in-orbit/
