South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Unmanned, solar-powered US space plane back after 908 days
CAPE CANAVERAL — An unmanned U.S. military space plane landed early Saturday after spending a record 908 days in orbit for its sixth mission and conducting science experiments.
The solar-powered vehicle, which looks like a miniature space shuttle, landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Its previous mission lasted 780 days.
“Since the X-37B’s first launch in 2010, it has shattered records and provided our nation with an unrivaled capability to rapidly test and integrate new space technologies,” said Jim Chilton, a senior vice president for Boeing, its developer.
For the first time, the space plane hosted a service module that carried experiments for the Naval Research Laboratory, U.S. Air Force Academy and others. The module separated from the vehicle before de-orbiting to ensure a safe landing.
Among the experiments was a satellite dubbed the FalconSat-8 that was clips. She ordered a bunch of press-ons, started painting them and offered to ship them worldwide, cracking into a market of customers shut in the house.
Hers unfolded like so many viral stories: randomly. One day, she woke up to a million views. Another day, the rapper Cardi B shared one of Strebler’s videos. And on. And on. Offers to promote products flooded in, but Strebler decided to make her own, sinking money from one success into the next. She bought her first house and a car.
“I couldn’t even imagine where we are at right now,”
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule topping a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls toward the launch complex May 17.
designed and built by academy cadets in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. It was deployed in October 2021 and still remains in orbit.
Another experiment evaluated the effects of long-duration space exposure on seeds.
“This mission highlights the Space Force’s focus she said of her finances. “It changed things in a huge way. Let’s put it that way.”
Her business grew so large, she had to open a separate office in Largo. It’s pink, too, with tie-dye rugs and those baddie Powerpuff Girls blown up life-size on the wall.
After four hours and countless ’90s music videos, Strebler applied the final, shiny topcoat to Spencer’s nails. She’d painted Stan from “South Park,” Courage the Cowardly Dog, Bender the robot from “Futurama” and copious other teeny designs.
Strebler and Spencer met online. Spencer, a 26-yearold content creator and makeup influencer who sells her own line of products, is
on collaboration in space exploration and expanding low-cost access to space for our partners, within and outside of the Department of the Air Force,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations.
The X-37Be has now flown over 1.3 billion miles and spent a total of 3,774 days in space. a model for Strebler’s products, so she gets a discount. Her nails cost $200, down from the usual $350 to $400.
If that seems wild, remember. This is not just a manicure, it’s a showpiece. It’s art. It’s time. It’s views. Spencer drives from Lakeland for these nails because her hands factor into nearly every video she makes. The women cross-promote each other, hacking further into the algorithm, breeding progress, keeping an empire growing.
Strebler arranged Spencer’s fingers on a sheet of white paper to cut out glare. This was the most important step of all. She snapped photos and videos of her work to share with the world.