A Busy Year For Aerospace Firsts In 2022

Eviation’s Alice became the largest all-electric aircraft yet to fly with an 8-min. first flight from Moses Lake on Sept. 27, Washington; but certification is delayed to 2027.

Matternet’s M2 drone in September became the first nonmilitary uncrewed aircraft to receive FAA type certification, allowing medical and e-commerce deliveries to be scaled up.

South Korea’s prototype KF-21 Boramae “4.5-generation” fighter, which was locally developed by Korea Aerospace Industries, made its first flight on July 19 and is on track for service entry in 2026.

The U.S. Air Force conducted the first hypersonic flight tests of the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon boost-glide strike missile in May and June.

The deepest infrared image of the distant universe was captured by the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope in July after it arrived at the L2 Lagrange point in January.

The demonstrator for India’s Ghatak uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) flew on July 1, while Turkey’s Baykar began autonomous taxi trials of the Kizilelma UCAV prototype on Nov. 20.

A U.S. Space Force Boeing X-37B reusable spaceplane landed at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Nov. 12 after a record 908 days in orbit on a mostly classified mission.

China’s Comac C919 airliner received type certification on Sept. 29, five years after its first flight, but the need
to replace Western equipment has pushed certification of Russia’s Irkut MC-21 back to 2024.

Launched Nov. 16 on the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, an uncrewed Orion capsule orbited the Moon at a distance of 43,700 mi. during the Artemis I mission.