{"id":13685,"date":"2019-10-28T13:56:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T13:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/28\/the-air-forces-x-37b-spaceplane-finally-landed-after-spending-two-years-in-space\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:32:20","slug":"the-air-forces-x-37b-spaceplane-finally-landed-after-spending-two-years-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/10\/28\/the-air-forces-x-37b-spaceplane-finally-landed-after-spending-two-years-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Air Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane lands after spending two years in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 In the early morning hours of Oct. 27, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2017\/08\/31\/air-forces-space-plane-set-to-launch-again-sept-7\/\" target=_blank>U.S. Air Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane<\/a> landed at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a record-breaking 780 days in orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What was the Boeing-made plane doing in space for the two years it spent circling Earth? On that point, the Air Force<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/newsletters\/tv-next-episode\/2019\/07\/29\/new-details-about-the-air-forces-secretive-x-37b-spaceplane-revealed\/\" target=\"_blank\"> is characteristically elusive<\/a>, describing the X-37B\u2019s activities as \u201con-orbit experiments\u201d in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2017\/06\/07\/x-37b-space-plane-to-get-lift-from-spacex\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3362970.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">X-37B space plane to get lift from SpaceX<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The X-37B is heading back to space later this year, and this time the space plane will launch for the first time ever by a SpaceX Falcon 9, the Air Force announced late Tuesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe X-37B continues to demonstrate the importance of a reusable spaceplane,\u201d Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said. \u201cEach successive mission advances our nation\u2019s space capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Air Force, the unmanned spaceplane is unique because it allows scientists to test experimental technologies in space for long periods of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of those technologies confirmed to be on board the X-37B is the Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader, or ASETS-11, created by the Air Force Research Laboratory to \u201ctest experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes in the long duration space environment,\u201d the service said in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis program continues to push the envelope as the world\u2019s only reusable space vehicle. With a successful landing today, the X-37B completed its longest flight to date and successfully completed all mission objectives,\u201d said Randy Walden, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/10\/12\/air-force-wants-to-apply-success-of-rapid-capabilities-office-to-other-weapons-programs\/\" target=_blank>head of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office<\/a>. \u201cThis mission successfully hosted Air Force Research Laboratory experiments, among others, as well as providing a ride for small satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 ended at 3:51 a.m. after the spaceplane landed on the runway of Kennedy\u2019s shuttle landing facility on Sunday. That mission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/09\/07\/spacex-launches-us-air-forces-secret-mini-shuttle\/\" target=_blank>began Sept. 7, 2017<\/a>, when the X-37B took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket \u2014 marking the first launch of the X-37B by Elon Musk\u2019s space company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, the X-37B has spent 2,865 days on orbit cumulatively over its five missions, with four of those missions extending past the 270-day on-orbit duration requirement to which the plane was designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force plans to launch a sixth mission in 2020 out of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service has two X-37Bs, which Walden characterized as \u201cworkhorses\u201d during a Oct. 24 event, <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2019\/10\/b-21-first-flight-in-2021-unlikely\/\" target=_blank>according to Breaking Defense<\/a>. When asked whether the Air Force should buy additional spacecraft or execute a follow-on order, Walden was noncommittal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe data is still out,\u201d he said, adding that the two existing X-37Bs are \u201cdoing quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mysterious spaceplane beat its previous record for days on orbit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,24,88,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3305],"class_list":["post-13685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NOIWC2E7UNFIHFGBPDTER6P4LM","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2019\/10\/28\/the-air-forces-x-37b-spaceplane-finally-landed-after-spending-two-years-in-space\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The US Air Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane lands after spending two years in space - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The mysterious spaceplane beat its previous record for days on orbit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US Air Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane lands after spending two years in space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mysterious spaceplane beat its previous record for days on orbit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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