Boeing X-37
Reusable robotic spaceplane / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the United States Space Force for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, before being transferred to the United States Department of Defense in 2004. Until 2019, the program was managed by Air Force Space Command.[1]
| X-37 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| The sixth X-37B with its Service module placed inside its payload fairing | |
| Role | Uncrewed spaceplane Type of aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Boeing |
| First flight | 7 April 2006 (first drop test) |
| Introduction | 22 April 2010 (first spaceflight) |
| Status |
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| Primary user |
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| Number built |
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| Developed from | Boeing X-40 |
An X-37 first flew during a drop test in 2006; its first orbital mission was launched in April 2010 on an Atlas V rocket, and returned to Earth in December 2010. Subsequent flights gradually extended the mission duration, reaching 780 days in orbit for the fifth mission, the first to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. The latest mission, the sixth, launched on an Atlas V on 17 May 2020 and concluded on 12 November 2022, reaching a total of 908 days in orbit.[2]