An unmanned US military space plane returned to Earth in the early hours of Saturday after completing its sixth mission. The aircraft spent a record 908 days in orbit for scientific experiments. This information has been given by the news agency Associated Press. This solar-powered vehicle, which looks like a small spacecraft, landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Its previous mission lasted for 780 days.

Jim Chilton, Boeing's senior vice president and developer of the aircraft, said the X-37B has broken several records since its first launch in 2010. It has given our nation an unmatched capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies.

This is the first time that the spacecraft functioned as a service module. The space plane carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, the US Air Force Academy, and others. The module was separated from the vehicle before it left orbit to ensure a safe landing.

Among the experiments was a satellite called FalconSat-8, designed and built by academy cadets in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was deployed in October 2021 and still remains in orbit. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-6 (OTV-6) completed its sixth mission lasting 908 days. During this, many types of experiments including agriculture were done. Another experiment evaluated the effects of long-term space exposure on seeds.

This mission highlights the Space Force's focus on cooperation in space exploration and expands low-cost access to space for our partners within and outside the Department of the Air Force, said Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of Space Operations. Is. The X-37B has flown more than 1.3 billion miles and spent a total of 3,774 days in space.