Boeing X-37

The Boeing X-37 is an American reusable uncrewed spaceplane, built as a prototype of a reusable satellite. It began as a NASA programme, with Boeing asked to design an orbital vehicle for a 270-day stay on orbit, and was transferred to DARPA in October 2004. Its shape is a 120 percent scale derivative of the X-40A glide-test vehicle, and an atmospheric Approach and Landing Test Vehicle was tested from the White Knight aircraft to validate its flight dynamics. The orbital X-37B version first flew on 22 April 2010 from Cape Canaveral and landed on 3 December 2010 after 225 days in space. Later test missions flew on Atlas V, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, the longest lasting 780 days, and carried experiments for the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory and NASA. The seventh mission ended with a landing at Vandenberg on 7 March 2025.