US Space Force shares first declassified photo from top secret X-37b mission

The first image from the USA's secret space plane currently orbiting the world has been released by the United States military.

Dubbed X-37B or the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), it is the code name for the spacecraft which is right on its seventh classified trip around the planet after being launched into the cosmic void by Elon Musk's SpaceX in 2023.

First departing back in 2010, it has been on six previous trips to space under the remit of the United States Space Force, which protects the USA's interests in space and uses space capabilities to support on-planet US military services.

Secrecy around what X-37B does has existed for the last decade and a half. But now, its first-ever image while in space has been released, some 15 years after its first mission.

Sharing an image to X (formerly Twitter), United States Space Force showed off part of the X-37B space plane while the Earth is sat glowing brightly in the dark void of space.

In a statement on social media, the United States Space Force said: "An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO [highly elliptical orbit] in 2024.

"The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind manoeuvres, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel."

The first photo from the X-37B secret space plane (US Space Force)

Experiments at highly elliptical orbit are journeys around the Earth which follow an elliptical or oval shape. This is usually in a pattern where the spacecraft is 1,000 kilometres at its closest to Earth and more than 35,700 kilometres from the planet at its most furthest away point.

Responding, people reacted how you would imagine on social media.

"'High Earth Orbit' feels like an understatement here. That is very, very high," one X user wrote.

A second wrote: "WE HAVE SPACE PLANES?!"

And a third said: "One of the most secret aircraft / missions and now we just putting ourselves out there. I assume this is a 'we're watching you' moment, no?"

Waiting for lift-off back on its first mission in 2010 (DoD/Corbis via Getty Images)

The current mission in to space is known as OTV-7, which was launched in to space by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on 12 December, 2023.

With no one manning the space plane during orbit, it can be launched at speeds humans couldn't withstand. The same goes for re-entry when the plane comes back down to Earth.

Since entering orbit in 2023, Space Force says X-37B has been 'conducting radiation effect experiments and has been testing Space Domain Awareness technologies in a Highly Elliptical Orbit'.

For information, space domain awareness is the study and monitoring of satellites orbiting the Earth.

When it returns to Earth, the X-37B lands on the former space shuttle runway, now known as the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.