US military drone returns to Earth after 908 days in orbit – 11/12/2022

A U.S. military space drone landed Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after spending nearly two and a half years in orbit, Boeing said in a statement.

The X-37B drone, whose first flight took place in 2010, spent a total of more than 10 years in space and flew more than 1.3 billion miles during six missions, the memo added.

“This mission highlights the Space Force’s focus on space exploration cooperation and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners inside and outside the Air Force,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.

The stealth-launched X-37B was developed for the Air Force by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The drone is nine meters long, has a wingspan of 4.5 meters and runs on solar panels.

The latest mission aims to test the response of certain materials in space, assess how radiation affects the array of seeds in space, and convert solar radiation into radioactive energy, the US military said.

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© Agence France-Presse