X 37b mini space shuttle landed at Vandenberg Air Force base at shortly after 1 a.m. last night after nearly 225 days in space.
The shuttle is the aircraft's first unmanned space plane.
X-37B program manager Lt Col Troy Giese stated moments after landing, “We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission.”
The specific agenda of the mission was not made public. The Air Force did not release any details about the spaceraft but did say the primary purpose of the flight was to test the shuttle itself. It was built by Boeing and is also known as the Orbital Test vehicle.
The X-37B’s mission is to “demonstrate a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the United States Air Force,” according to a fact sheet put out by the military. “Objectives of the OTV program include space experimentation, risk reduction and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.”
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