The US Space Force’s X-37B unmanned spacecraft landed on Earth on Saturday. The device spent a record 908 days orbiting the Earth.
The plane landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:22 (Dutch time) on Saturday. This concludes the spacecraft’s sixth mission. Exactly what that mission entailed has never been made public.
The US Space Force said it used FalconSat-8 during the mission. This small satellite has been put into orbit around the Earth. The satellite is still there.
A solar panel designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory was also tested during the mission. This panel is about the size of a pizza box and is supposed to send electricity back to earth.
The X-37B was built by the American airline Boeing. Oversight and missions are provided by the US Space Force. The Space Force was founded in 2019 by former President Donald Trump and is responsible for warfare in space.
