2nd Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Successfully Completes 1st Flight

<p>VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., June 16, 2012 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced the successful de-orbit and landing of the second X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) for the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. The X-37B landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:48 a.m. Pacific time today, concluding a 469-day experimental test mission. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on March 5, 2011.</p> <p>&ldquo;We congratulate the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base on this second successful mission,&rdquo; said Paul Rusnock, Boeing vice president of Government Space Systems. &ldquo;With OTV-1, we proved that unmanned space vehicles can be sent into orbit and safely recovered. With OTV-2, we tested the vehicle design even further by extending the 220-day mission duration of the first vehicle, and testing additional capabilities. We look forward to the second launch of OTV-1 later this year and the opportunity to demonstrate that the X-37B is an affordable space vehicle that can be repeatedly reused.&rdquo;</p> <p>OTV-1 was the United States&rsquo; first unmanned vehicle to return from space and land on its own. Previously, the space shuttle was the only space vehicle capable of returning to Earth and being reused.<br /> The innovative X-37B combines the best of an aircraft and a spacecraft into an affordable, responsive unmanned vehicle.</p> <p>The X-37B program is demonstrating a reliable, reusable unmanned space test platform for the Air Force. Its objectives include space experimentation, risk reduction, and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies that could become key enablers for future space missions.</p> <p>Boeing's commitment to this space-based unmanned vehicle spans a decade and includes support to the Air Force Research Lab's X-40 program, NASA's X-37 program, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's X-37 Approach &amp; Landing Test Vehicle program.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>