This week, the U.S. Space Force shared a photo it says was taken last year by the X-37B, showing Earth in the distance and a bit of the spacecraft itself. The X-37B will launch on its seventh mission in late 2023, although little is known about what that mission entails. Its previous flight, which ended in 2022, set a new endurance record for spaceplanes, spending 908 days in orbit.
The photo doesn’t provide much information, but it gives a rare glimpse of the X-37B in space. “The X-37B’s onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the spacecraft, takes an image of Earth while conducting high-latitude experiments in 2024,” the Space Force wrote on X.
About the current mission, we were told that this is the first time the Boeing X-37B has tested a maneuver known as aerobraking, or a more economical method of changing orbit through “a series of passes using the resistance of the Earth’s atmosphere.” The Space Force announced back in October that the vehicle had begun this process, and the latest update indicates that it was successful. “The X-37B performed a series of first-of-its-kind maneuvers called aerobraking to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel,” the Space Force said. It is not known how long the mission will last.
