On October. 27, 2019, a highly-classified reusable space-plane returned from space after a record-breaking 780-day flight. The craft, US Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 (OTV-5), landed at 3:51 am EDT on NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.
The X-37B (OTV-5) mission launched off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September 2017. This landing was the second time the X-37B has landed at the Kennedy Space Center, the first was the OTV-4.
Like the previous four missions, the Air Force is keeping quiet about what the plane did in orbit. Even though the exact purpose of the mission was a secret, officials did say that the mission successfully completed its objectives. According to the Air Force, its general goals were “risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies,” along with the deployment of some small satellites.
The Air Force secretary Barbara Barrett said: “Each successive mission advances our nation’s space capabilities.”
The OTV-5 broke the X-37B endurance record which was previously 718 days in orbit before returning to Earth. This time the shuttle was in orbit for 780 days. This reusable test vehicle looks like a miniature space shuttle because the size of it is only 9 meters (29 ft). In total, the program has clocked up 2,865 days in space. The idea is that with the new technologies and methods developed for these flights, the Air Force and the proposed US Space Force can maintain dominance in space.
Randy Walden, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director, said:
This program continues to push the envelope as the world’s only reusable space vehicle. With a successful landing today, the X-37B completed its longest flight to date and successfully completed all mission objectives. This mission successfully hosted Air Force Research Laboratory experiments, among others, as well as providing a ride for small satellites.
This was the fifth spaceflight by a craft of this sort. A sixth is planned to launch next year from Cape Canaveral. Let’s see if the OTV-6 will break the OTV-5’s record!
