Message posted by Peter Merlin on April 07, 2006 at 8:12:39 PST:
The X-37 made a successful free flight this morning. I was at Edwards South Base and had a spectacular view of the entire flight. The X-37 was carried aloft from Mojave Airport by the Sclaed Composites "White Knight" mothership, and accompanied by the Beech Starship chase plane. Following a climb to altitude, the unmanned X-37 was released and glided to touchdown on Runway 22. For an unpowered glider, it is a surprisingly noisy vehicle. The aerodynamic noise makes it sound like a jet. Touchdown was smooth, but the X-37 ran off the west end of the runway and into the weeds. It appeared undamaged. The Starship made a dramatic low-level pass over the X-37 a few minutes later.
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