#x37

OTV-4 mission concludes as X-37 returns to Earth. After nearly two years in space, the U.S. Air Force’s classified space shuttle, the Orbital Test Vehicle X-37B, returned to Earth, landing on Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility runway shortly before 8am EDT.  Officially known as the AFSPC-5 mission, OTV-4 launched on May 20, 2015, atop an Atlas V rocket. That same rocket also lifted the Planetary Society’s solar sailing cubesat, LightSail-1 into orbit on its own groundbreaking mission. Spending over 717 days in space, the OTV-4 mission is the longest mission thus far of the program’s four flights. Measuring 29 feet long with a wingspan of 15 feet, the X-37B is a robotic spaceplane with a payload bay ideal for small payloads. While the specific milestones for this flight were classified, at least two of the experiments included the testing of an electric engine and materials exposure pallets. The first three flights of the OTV program landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, though OTV-4 became the first to land in Florida. By landing at the same spaceport which it left from, OTV operations are expected to streamline and potentially allow for faster times in between missions. One of Kennedy’s three Orbiter Processing Facilities is used by the Air Force to house the two X-37 spaceplanes in between missions.

As seen in the gifs above - taken from video of the vehicle’s landing - the spaceplane glides past a model of another famous space plane, the Space Shuttle. The Inspiration, which once sat outside the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, was moved to the SLF for restoration ahead of a nationwide tour promoting aerospace science and STEM fields. See our coverage of the AFSPC-5 mission here.

After 718 days in orbit, the U.S. Air Force’s X-37b spaceplane landed Sunday morning at Kennedy Space Center. It marked the first time the mini space shuttle landed in Florida, where the Air Force has transferred X-37 operations after three previous landings at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. OPF-1, one of the three former Orbiter Processing Facilities next to the Vehicle Assembly Building, was transferred to the Air Force in 2014 for use as the X-37′s hangar. Sunday’s landing marked the first time this facility was used by one of the spaceplane’s following an orbital mission. Various aviation notices, activity at the Shuttle Landing Facility, and adjustments in the spacecraft’s orbit since February all hinted at the possibility of the spaceplane’s return. The Air Force gave no prior notice on Sunday’s landing until after the vehicle’s sonic booms were heard across Florida. In the second image above, one of the two declassified payloads is visible, the Aerojet-Rocketdyne XR-5A Hall effect electric thruster.This is the white-capped black cone to the immediate left of the vehicle’s main engine nozzle. Click here to see our coverage of the X-37′s return.

NEW 27"x37" CLEVELAND BROWNS WINCRAFT BANNER FLAG

NEW 27"x37" CLEVELAND BROWNS WINCRAFT BANNER FLAG -