The Air Force’s X-37B Space Plane Returns to Earth After a 15-Month Secret Mission

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Air Force’s X-37B–its secret robotic space plane that’s been orbiting the Earth on a mission shrouded in mystery for more than a year–landed safely in the wee hours Saturday morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (OTV-2) is the second X-37B test vehicle to successfully complete an orbital mission and autonomously return to Earth, following sister spacecraft OTV-1’s 225-day mission in 2010.    More