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Παρασκευή 22 Ιουνίου 2012

X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle landing

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 16, 2012. Here is the video footage of that landing.

June 18, 2012 
Secretive Air Force Space Plane X-37b Lands - official video
The U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane came back to Earth today (June 16) after 15 months in orbit on a mystery mission, and its much-anticipated landing was caught on video.

The X-37B spacecraft touched down at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:48 a.m. local time Saturday (8:48 a.m. EDT; 1248 GMT). Several hours later, Vandenberg officials released a short video of the event.

The first part of the 80-second video was apparently shot in infrared light. It shows the X-37B space plane cruising in for an automated landing, its belly and nose glowing a bright orange-yellow, presumably from the heat generated during re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. 

The video switches over to visible wavelengths about 35 seconds in, after the space plane has touched down, and shuts off shortly after the X-37B rolls to a stop on the runway.

The X-37B, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle-2 (OTV-2), launched on March 5, 2011, from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its flight was the second-ever mission for the X-37B program; the first was flown by OTV-2's sister ship, OTV-1.

OTV-1 blasted off in April 2010 and stayed aloft for 225 days.

X-37B Space Shuttle US Air Force Plane Vandenberg Base Orbital Test Vehicle-2 OTV-2 OTV-1