The classified Boeing X-37B orbiter spent 900 days in orbit

By: Maksim Panasovskyi | 07.11.2022, 01:12
The classified Boeing X-37B orbiter spent 900 days in orbit

Boeing's classified spaceplane continues its journey in orbit, updating its own record of staying in space without returning to Earth.

Here's What We Know

The orbiter is on its sixth mission. It's called Orbital Test Vehicle 6 (OTV-6) and launched in May 2020 from Cape Canaveral in the United States. The previous record for a single flight was more than 700 days. That figure has long been surpassed, and now the Boeing X-37B is just updating its own record.

Even though it's been almost 12 years since the first mission, OTV-1, ended on Dec. 3, 2010, we still don't know what the X-37B does in orbit. Some tasks are still relatively public, though.

For example, the Boeing spacecraft recently helped test a photoelectric radio frequency antenna module developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Sometimes the media write that the Boeing X-37B is used in experiments with orbital weapons.

Source: space