Unmanned orbital vehicle lands on its own

UPI.com: Unmanned orbital vehicle lands on its own
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Boeing's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for the Air Force successfully left orbit Friday and landed in California following a 220-day experimental test mission.

The X-37B is the United States' first unmanned vehicle to return from space and land on its own.

Previously, the space shuttle was the only space vehicle capable of returning to Earth.

"We congratulate the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the success of this mission," said Paul Rusnock, Boeing vice president of Experimental Systems and program director for the X-37B. "This marks a new era in space exploration, and we look forward to the launch of the second vehicle in 2011.

"By combining the best of aircraft and spacecraft into an affordable, responsive unmanned vehicle, Boeing has delivered an unprecedented capability to the RCO."

Boeing said the X-37B program is demonstrating a reliable, reusable unmanned space test platform for the Air Force for space experimentation, risk reduction and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.