X-37B Back Home from 7th Mission

DOD’s X-37B spaceplane is back on Earth after 434 days in space. The Boeing-built vehicle landed at 2:22 am ET this morning at Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, a departure from recent landings at Kennedy Space Center, FL. The duration is far short of the 908 day record set by the previous mission, but one of this flight’s hallmarks was conducting aerobraking maneuvers.

This was the seventh flight of the super-secret X-37B, which began on December 28, 2023. In October 2024, DOD announced it was conducting aerobraking tests.

The U.S. Space Force posted images of the vehicle on X today after landing.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-7 (OTV-7), the U.S. Space Force’s dynamic unmanned spaceplane, successfully deorbited and landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Mar. 7, 2025 at 02:22 a.m. EST. #X37B #USSF pic.twitter.com/L7pgNAVhMg

— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) March 7, 2025

USSF Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said the aerobraking maneuver underscored USSF’s “commitment to pushing the bounds of novel space operations in a safe and responsible manner.”

“Mission 7 broke new ground by showcasing the X-37B’s ability to flexibly accomplish its test and experimentation objectives across orbital regimes. The successful execution of the aerobraking maneuver underscores the U.S. Space Force’s commitment to pushing the bounds of novel space operations in a safe and responsible manner.” — Gen. B. Chance Saltzman

X-37B Program Director Lt. Col. Blaine Stewart stated the mission’s “operation in a new orbital regime, its novel aerobraking maneuver, and its testing of space domain awareness experiments have written an exciting new chapter in the X-37B program.”

This seventh flight of X-37B was the first to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and fly to a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) instead of low Earth orbit. The USSF said it “accomplished a range of test and experimentation objectives intended to demonstrate the X-37B’s robust maneuver capability while helping characterize the space domain through the testing of space domain awareness technology experiments.”

X-37B is built by Boeing. Michelle Parker, Boeing Vice President of Space Mission Systems, said “X-37B’s achievements are a testament to our team’s dedication and innovation. Each mission is an opportunity to improve and augment the platform, ensuring it remains at the forefront of space technology. The X-37’s accomplishments reinforce the significance of our work.”

Until now, each X-37B flight eclipsed the duration of its predecessors.

First flight: 2010, 224 days
Second flight: 2011-2012, 469 days
Third flight: 2012-2014 674 days
Fourth flight: 2015-2017, 718 days
Fifth flight: 2017-2019, 780 days
Sixth flight: 2020-2022, 908 days