The unmanned X-37B military space plane, engaged in a top-secret Air Force mission for the past 15 months, is expected to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base by mid-June, base officials said.
According to a statement issued by Vandenberg, preparations are underway for a landing at the base, though the exact date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations. The base’s 30th Space Wing will monitor the landing.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-2 (OTV-2) is the second reusable space plane commissioned for Boeing by the Air Force. The 29-foot experimental craft launched on March 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and was originally scheduled for a 270-day mission. It was expected to land at Vandenberg last December, however the Air Force extended the mission with little explanation. Vandenberg spokesman Lt. Austin Fallin offered no further details of the mission, but did expand on the measures being taken at the base.
“We have completed minor flight line repairs and inspections in preparation for the X-37B landing here,” Fallin said via e-mail. “Our focus is on providing for a safe landing. We have accomplished numerous landing rehearsals and landing readiness reviews to make sure we are ready to execute safe landing operations.”
The X-37B was developed by the Air Force in partnership with NASA and is based off of NASA’s X-37A space plane. On its mission, it circled the Earth in low-earth orbit at about 17,000 miles per hour, according to Boeing.
This article appears in Jun 7-14, 2012.