Following a series of new maneuvers, the spaceplane will wrap up its seventh mission after nearly a year in space.
After spending a little over 10 months in space, the U.S. Space Force’s experimental spaceplane known as X-37B will attempt to use Earth’s atmospheric drag to change its orbit for the first time.on December 29, 2023, marking the first time it carried the spacecraft. This is the spaceplane’s seventh time in orbit, and the Space Force has big plans for the last leg of its test vehicle’s journey around Earth.
The X-37B, built by Boeing, will dispose of its service module before completing its remaining mission objectives, which the Space Force has not disclosed, and then de-orbit to conclude its seventh mission in space. “This novel and efficient series of maneuvers demonstrates the Space Force’s commitment to achieving groundbreaking innovation as it conducts national security missions in space,” Frank Kendall, secretary of the U.S. Air Force, said in a statement.
The X-37B launched in May 2020 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for its sixth mission, and it stayed in orbit for 908 days beforeAs the name suggests, a spaceplane is a spacecraft-airplane hybrid that combines the capability to reach Earth orbit with the ease of landing horizontally back on the ground, increasing its potential for reusability. China is in the midst of testing its own spaceplane, Shenlong, which recentlyIt’s not clear when the U.S.
The defunct satellite broke apart into more than 100 pieces, raising speculation that it may be the result of an anti-satellite missile test.The space agency tossed a massive pallet of old batteries from the ISS, and a piece of it fell through a family's roof.
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