The official account of the U.S. air force reported that reusable orbital spacecraft X-37B OTV-4 successfully landed on the runway at Kennedy Space center. The U.S. air force said that X-37B OTV-4 was in space more than seven hundred days.
The #AirForce #X37B #OTV4 is back after more than 700 days in #Space. @NASAKennedy pic.twitter.com/02WdzMSDJe
— U. S. Air Force (@usairforce) 7 may 2017
The Pentagon never released a full list of challenges facing the spaceship, but earlier it was reported that on the basis of the experimental apparatus it was planned to conduct a number of tests, which included research related to the changing properties of materials in space. Was planned and experiments in the framework of the program on creation of the ion engine.
The orbital plane X-37B was developed by Boeing engineers and designed to fly at altitudes of 200 to 750 kilometers. Technically the drone is able to deliver cargo from Earth to orbit and back.
Probably test mini-Shuttle could become a prototype for space interceptor or reconnaissance aircraft. The project X37 was built several spacecraft, OTV-4 was the fourth in a row. Immediately after the landing of OTV-4 was launched with the preparation of the fifth flight.
Experimental spaceship, the U.S. air force landed after two years in orbit
Vyacheslav Larionov