The X-47B prototype on Tuesday flew off an aircraft carrier and into the history books. Today's achievement, the first-ever catapult launch of an unmanned aircraft from the flight deck of a carrier, promises to open up a new chapter in the annals of naval aviation. Photo: An X-47B pilot-less drone combat aircraft is launched for the first time off an aircraft carrier, the USS George H. W. Bush, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, May 14, 2013. The U.S. Navy made aviation history on Tuesday by catapulting an unmanned jet off an aircraft carrier for the first time, testing a long-range, stealthy, bat-winged plane that represents a jump forward in drone technology. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

A man poses for a picture in front of Christmas lights decoration at the Francisco Morazan square in San Salvador, El Salvador, December 22, 2020. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 photo, a child carries kettles through a flooded street with a woman in Tianjin, China. China says dozens of people have died or gone missing since Monday in massive floods across the country's north. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)

A worker lifts up tiles during a bodybuilding contest for tile factory workers as part of celebrating Indonesia Independence day at Jatiwangi village in Majalengka, Indonesia West Java province, August 11, 2017. Indonesia Independence day is on August 17, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

Health workers screen residents for COVID-19 symptoms at Dharavi, one of Asia's biggest slums, in Mumbai, India, Monday, August 3, 2020. India is the third hardest-hit country by the pandemic in the world after the United States and Brazil. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

A woman rides her scooter as a dog chases her during heavy snowfall in Huai'an, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on February 4, 2024. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

The Liberty Flames take the field before a football game against the Florida International University Panthers at Williams Stadium on October 08, 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)

A person reacts during an anti-war protest, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Moscow, Russia on February 24, 2022. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)