Boeing’s new baby makes it through a tough test
Jun 16, 2012, 12:26 PM | Updated: 2:44 pm
The X-37B is an unmanned space craft designed to orbit the earth and return by landing itself. Designers say it incorporates the best of an aircraft and a spacecraft.
In their first test of the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-1), the aerospace company sent the X-37B out for a 220 day mission. Now, Boeing has just completed the second successful test of the craft.
This time, the OTV-2 orbited the earth for more than a year, 469 days, and tested additional capabilities of the craft. It launched in March 2011 from Cape Canaveral in Florida and landed at 5:48 a.m. Pacific time Saturday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Now, Boeing is ready to take the next step and prove the same craft is holding up well enough it can be reused on another mission. That will happen later this year.
“We look forward to the second launch of OTV-1 later this year and the opportunity to demonstrate that the X-37B is an affordable space vehicle that can be repeatedly reused,” said Paul Rusnock, Vice President of Government Space Systems at Boeing.
Representatives could not give details as to how the Air Force will use the X-37B, saying that it is a classified project.
