FLORIDA : The launch took place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. According to SpaceX, the rocket delivered the spaceplane into low Earth orbit just eight and a half minutes after liftoff before returning to land on a floating platform off the Florida coast.

The X-37B, an 8.8-meter-long craft resembling a scaled-down version of NASA’s retired space shuttles, will carry out a series of technical and research experiments in orbit. Designed as a versatile testing platform, it is used to trial advanced technologies, sensors, and systems critical to future space missions.