A SECRET unmanned US spaceship crash landed in Florida after circling the Earth for three years, sparking UFO fears and a causing sonic boom.
After a record 908 days in orbit, the solar-powered X-37B landed at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday.
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“Since the X-37B’s first launch in 2010, it has shattered records and provided our nation with an unrivaled capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,” said Jim Chilton, a senior vice president for Boeing.
Boeing developed X-37B, which looks like a miniature space shuttle.
Its previous mission lasted 780 days.
However, the surprise landing had some Floridians shellshocked after a loud sonic boom was heard early in the morning.
One Twitter user thought someone hit his house. “Facebook and Twitter seem to confirm it was what I thought it was, sonic boom seems likely,” he wrote.
Another wrote: “Just woke up to a sonic boom shaking the house. I’m seeing reports from Tampa to Titusville. What the hell just flew across Florida? Was there a launch?”
It was confirmed by the Space Force that the spacecraft had successfully deorbited by 5.22am.
During its three-year journey, X-37B hosted a service module that carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, the US Air Force Academy and others.
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The module separated from the spacecraft before deorbiting so the landing would be safer.
Among the experiments was a satellite called the FalconSat-8 that was designed and built by academy cadets in a collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory.
FalconSat-8 was deployed in October 2021 and is still in orbit.
Another experiment analyzed the effect of long-time space exposure on seeds.
“The seeds experiment will inform space crop production for future interplanetary missions and the establishment of permanently inhabited bases in space,” said the military.
The Naval Research Laboratory’s experience “successfully harnessed solar rays outside of Earth’s atmosphere and aimed to transmit power to the ground in the form of radio frequency microwave energy,” said Space Force.
“This mission highlights the Space Force’s focus on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force,” said General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations.
X-37B is powered by solar cells with lithium-ion batteries and was orbiting around 200 miles high.
The first mission in 2010 lasted about 224 days while its second mission in 2011 went on for 468 days.
The spacecraft has flown over 1.3billion miles and has spent a total of 3,774 days in space.
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