Mysterious Space Force ship back on Earth after 434 days in orbit

A secretive Space Force ship has returned to earth after spending 434 days in orbit conducting mysterious tests.

The Boeing-made X-37B vessel was quietly launched by SpaceX in 2023 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and remained in orbit until Friday morning when it touched down at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

USSF landed the flight to exercise the ship’s rapid ability to launch and recover its systems across multiple sites, the agency said in a statement.