spacetoday.net: X-37B lands in California

Posted: Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 10:24 AM ET (1424 GMT)
X-37B OTV-3 landing (USAF)

A secretive military spaceplane completed its third, and longest yet, mission Friday with a landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The X-37B completed what the Air Force calls Orbital Test Vehicle mission 3 (OTV-3) by landing on the main runway at Vandenberg at 9:24 am PDT (12:24 EDT, 1624 GMT) Friday. The Air Force announced late last week that the vehicle would be landing soon; while some reports indicated a landing could take place as early as Tuesday, the Air Force did not explain why the landing took place on Friday. The X-37B spent 674 days in space, carrying out a classified mission that outsiders have speculated ranged from technology demonstrations to reconnaissance. The Air Force said Friday that a fourth X-37B mission is scheduled for launch in 2015 from Cape Canaveral.