Air Force's mini space shuttle returns after 468-day flight

Capping a 15-month clandestine military mission circling the planet, the Pentagon's miniature spaceplane, one quarter the size of NASA's now-retired space shuttle, returned to Earth just after dawn Saturday for a pinpoint touchdown at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Orbital Test Vehicle received the ground-issued command to come home, initiating a fully autonomous sequence of firing its propulsion system to brake from orbit, plunging through the atmosphere for a super-hot reentry over the Pacific Ocean, executing a series of turns to dissipate speed towards Vandenberg, then dropping its gear with dinner plate-sized wheels for a tire-smoking touchdown at 5:48 a.m. local (8:48 a.m. EDT; 1248 GMT) while flying on a sophisticated autopilot fed with GPS navigation. More

(Source: Spaceflight Now - Jun 16)