On Friday, the Space Force published a picture taken last year from a camera mounted on the secretive X-37B space plane while high above the Earth. Space.com notes that the “one other glimpse†of the plane in space was while it was “deploying from Falcon Heavy’s upper stage†during its December 2023 launch. The Space […]
On Friday, the Space Force published a picture taken last year from a camera mounted on the secretive X-37B space plane while high above the Earth. Space.com notes that the “one other glimpse†of the plane in space was while it was “deploying from Falcon Heavy’s upper stage†during its December 2023 launch.
The Space Force says it snapped the photo during experimental “first-of-kind†aerobraking maneuvers “to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel.†The Air Force said in October this would involve “a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere,†and that once complete, it would resume its other experiments before de-orbiting.
An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024.The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel. pic.twitter.com/ccisgl493P
— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) February 21, 2025
This is the X-37B’s seventh mission; its sixth, which concluded in November 2022, lasted about two-and-a-half years (or 908 days) and was its longest mission to …