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A US military space drone landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday after nearly two and a half years in orbit, Boeing said.
The unmanned X-37B shuttle, whose first flight took place in 2010, has now spent a total of more than 10 years in space and flown more than 1.3 billion miles during six missions, Boeing said in a statement.
"This mission highlights the Space Force A US military space drone landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday after nearly two and a half years in orbit, Boeing said.
The unmanned X-37B shuttle, whose first flight took place in 2010, has now spent a total of more than 10 years in space and flown more than 1.3 billion miles during six missions, Boeing said in a statement.
"This mission highlights the Space Force's focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force," said General Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.
Launched in secrecy, the X-37B was designed for the Air Force by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
It is 30 feet (nine meters) long, has a 15-foot wingspan and is powered by solar panels.
Before the shuttle's last launch, in May 2020, the Pentagon evoked a series of scientific experiments it would undertake.
The mission was to test how certain materials react in space, to evaluate how ambient radiation in space affects a series of seeds, and to transform solar radiation into radio-electric energy, the army said.
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Gilmour Space completes final qualification test of Sirius rocket engine
Gold Coast, Australia (SPX) Nov 08, 2022
Australian rocket engineers at Gilmour Space Technologies have successfully completed the final qualification test of its main Sirius hybrid rocket engine, paving the way for the country's first orbital launch attempt of an Australian-made rocket next year. The Queensland-based rocket company is developing Eris, a three-stage launch vehicle that will be a cost effective and greener alternative to traditional liquid and solid propulsion rockets. "What you see here is Sirius, our main hybrid r ... read more