{"id":18969,"date":"2017-05-08T00:12:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T16:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/air-forces-x-37b-space-plane-lands-in-florida-after-secret-2-year-orbital-mission\/"},"modified":"2017-05-08T00:12:04","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T16:12:04","slug":"air-forces-x-37b-space-plane-lands-in-florida-after-secret-2-year-orbital-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/air-forces-x-37b-space-plane-lands-in-florida-after-secret-2-year-orbital-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force\u2019s X-37B space plane lands in Florida after secret 2-year orbital mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_330296\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-330296\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-330296 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170507-x37b-landing-630x407.jpg\" alt=\"X-37B landing\" width=\"630\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170507-x37b-landing-630x407.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170507-x37b-landing-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170507-x37b-landing.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-330296\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers in protective suits check out the Air Force\u2019s X-37B Orbital Test Vehcile after its touchdown at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility. (U.S. Air Force Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After nearly two years in orbit, the U.S. Air Force\u2019s X-37B robotic space plane landed at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today with a loud sonic boom, but nary a word about what exactly it was doing up there all this time.<\/p>\n<p>This was the fourth and longest classified mission for the&nbsp;Boeing-built craft, which was launched from Florida 718 days earlier in 2015 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The three earlier missions were flown in 2010, 2011-2012 and 2012-2014, with landings at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.<\/p>\n<p>The Air Force\u2019s fleet of X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles has now spent a total of 2,085 days to gauge the reusable winged plane\u2019s ability to conduct on-orbit operations and return for airplane-style horizontal landings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe landing of OTV-4 marks another success for the X-37B program and the nation,\u201d Lt. Col. Ron Fehlen, X-37B program manager, said in an Air Force news release. \u201cThis mission once again set an on-orbit endurance record and marks the vehicle\u2019s first landing in the state of Florida. We are incredibly pleased with the performance of the space vehicle and are excited about the data gathered to support the scientific and space communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Air Force X-37B OTV-4 Landing [Runway]\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a1LcpFljfe0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the X-37B program has been a mystery for well more than a decade. Precursor prototypes were rumored to be designed as \u201cspace bombers,\u201d but more recent speculation has downplayed the plane\u2019s potential use against terrestrial targets.<\/p>\n<p>Instead,&nbsp;the plane&nbsp;is seen as an experimental test bed for military space technologies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold: reusable spacecraft technologies for America\u2019s future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth,\u201d the Air Force says in its X-37B fact sheet.<\/p>\n<p>Such experiments are thought to include a new type of rocket thruster built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, new sensors for intelligence gathering, and new tools&nbsp;for deploying and retrieving payloads in space.<\/p>\n<p>Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, took special note of the first-ever Florida landing. \u201cThe ability to land, refurbish and launch from the same location further enhances the OTV\u2019s ability to rapidly integrate and qualify new space technologies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Air Force says it\u2019s preparing to launch its fifth top-secret X-37B mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Workers in protective suits check out the Air Force\u2019s X-37B Orbital Test Vehcile after its touchdown at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility. (U.S. Air Force Photo) After nearly two years in orbit, the U.S. Air Force\u2019s X-37B robotic space plane landed at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today with a loud sonic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[437,439,1011],"class_list":["post-18969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-air-force","tag-military","tag-x-37b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}