Unmanned US spacecraft returns after 7-month trip

[ErnstBlofeld]

AP via Yahoo News:

The U.S. military's secretive X-37B unmanned spaceplane slipped out of orbit and landed itself in early morning darkness Friday at a California airbase after a successful maiden flight that lasted more than seven months, the Air Force said.

The stubby-winged, robotic craft fired its engine to begin re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and autonomously landed at 1:16 a.m. PST at coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles

Range safety officers were on hand to track its descent over the Pacific and activate a destruct mechanism if the landing needed to be aborted. There were no immediate reports of any sonic booms being heard.

Vandenberg released infrared camera video of the craft rolling to a stop, recovery crews approaching in vehicles and working around it in protective suits, much the way space shuttles are handled upon landing.

[ErnstBlofeld]

It spent 225 days in orbit.

[ErnstBlofeld]