Tuesday, June 28, 2022

U.S. Space Force's X-37B Space Plane Is Just A Week Away From Setting A New Mission-Duration Mark

The U.S. Space Force's robotic X-37B space plane is shown here in a 2009 photo at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The sixth X-37B mission launched into Earth orbit on May 17, 2020 and is still going. (Image credit: U.S. Air Force)  

Space.com: US military's mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward orbital record 

The X-37B is just a week away from setting a new mission-duration mark. 

The U.S. military's X-37B robotic space plane is closing in on a mission-duration record. 

The X-37B launched to Earth orbit on May 17, 2020 on the sixth mission for the program, a flight known as Orbital Test Vehicle-6 (OTV-6). 

The Space Force minishuttle has now been aloft for 773 days. That's just a week shy of the X-37B record of 780 days, which was set on OTV-5. (That program record doesn't come close to the overall mark for an orbital stay; for example, the Landsat-5 satellite observed Earth from orbit for 29 years.)  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The X-37B record is 780 days in space.

No comments: