New Delhi, March 9 -- A classified US Space Force ship has returned to Earth after spending 434 days in orbit conducting undisclosed experiments. The Boeing-built X-37B, an autonomous spaceplane, was launched in 2023 by SpaceX from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It successfully landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday morning.

The US Space Force (USSF) described the mission as a breakthrough in space operations, demonstrating the ship's ability to rapidly launch and recover across multiple locations.

"Mission 7 broke new ground by showcasing the X-37B's ability to flexibly accomplish its test and experimentation objectives across orbital regimes," Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman stated. "The ...