The US Air Force successfully recovered the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) unmanned mini-shuttle after it successfully re-entered the atmosphere and landed at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, at 1624 GMT on 17 October 2014. Details of the 674-day X-37B/OTV 1 (Flight 2) mission have been kept under wraps but the spacecraft is believed to have imaging equipment inside its payload bay, as well as a deployable solar array to provide power.
The Boeing-built spacecraft was originally launched on 11 December 2012. The flight was the third mission of the X-37 and the second of the first X-37/OTV craft.
According to amateur orbital observations (US Space Command does not give out orbital data on secret missions) the spacecraft had been operational in a 406 x 387 km orbit with an inclination of circa 43.5 degrees relative to the equator.
