An Air Force X-37B spaceplane just completed its 718th day in orbit, making it the longest mission yet for a secretive military test program.
The US military has launched five uncrewed X-37B spaceplanes into orbit over the past decade, and each flight has been longer than its predecessor.
What is known is that the military is using the planes to develop reusable spaceflight technology. Officials don't necessarily want to reuse the same X-37B plane multiple times, but the Air Force designed the crafts to try out new navigation systems as well as methods for reentering the Earth's atmosphere and for landing safely back on terra firma.
The spacecrafts are also designed to carry out"experiments" that"can be returned to, and examined, on Earth" after the mission is over, according to Russell, the Air Force spokesman. The nature of those experiments are — you guessed it — also top secret. The current X-37B plane in orbit, called OTV-5, was launched to space in September 2017 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The previous flight, for OTV-4, was 718 days long and ended in May 2017.
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