Space Force ship lands in Florida following record 908-day mission
Jenny Goldsberry
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The Space Force‘s X-37B ship landed in Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday after completing a record 908 days in orbit.
Boeing’s design of the reusable spaceship has now lasted 1.3 billion miles across 3,774 days in space throughout its six missions. Its latest mission was the first with a service module when it launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in May 2020, which helped its landing. The force of the landing caused a sonic boom across Florida.
“Since the X-37B’s first launch in 2010, it has shattered records and provided our nation with an unrivaled capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,” Boeing Space and Launch Senior Vice President Jim Chilton said in a statement. “With the service module added, this was the most we’ve ever carried to orbit on the X-37B and we’re proud to have been able to prove out this new and flexible capability for the government and its industry partners.”
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The mission included cooperation with the Department of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office to conduct a solar energy experiment and other experiments on the FalconSat-8 satellite that has been in orbit since October 2021. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations, said the experiments would contribute to “space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners.”
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This landing comes after NASA was forced to postpone its Artemis 1 launch from the Kennedy Space Center for the fourth time due to Hurricane Nicole.