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)

Mermaid Hales Parcells geets children as she performs at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, April 3, 2017. The Aquarium presents a mermaid show one night each week during the month of April. (Photo by Steve Helber/AP Photo)

A Ugandan soldier, part of the 9,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia, (AMISOM) walks through the Banadir soccer stadium on August 15, 2011 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The stadium, Somalia's largest soccer facility, had been under control by Islamic extremist Shabab militants for the past two years until they withdrew from the capital more than a week ago. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Participants in costumes pose before a Halloween parade in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, Japan on October 28, 2018. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Sara Moni, dressed as the World of Warcraft's Sinestra, poses for photographers on day three of the Comic-Con International held at the San Diego Convention Center Saturday July 23, 2016 in San Diego. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Invision/AP Photo)

A mural depicting NHS nurse Melanie Senior, based on a photograph by Johannah Churchill, which The National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Peter Barber to create in Manchester's Northern Quarter, on October 19, 2020 in Manchester, England. Greater Manchester's leaders including Mayor Andy Burnham will want better financial arrangements for workers affected before they agree for the region to be moved into a Tier 3 Covid-19 lockdown. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Models wait backstage ahead of their presentation of creations from the YINMU collection by designer Wei Jiang during the China Fashion Week in Beijing, China, 26 October 2020. The fashion event runs from 24 October to 01 November 2020. (Photo by Wu Hong/EPA/EFE)

People react as the body of a relative is retrieved from the ruin of a building at an area affected by an earthquake in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, January 15, 2021. A strong, shallow earthquake shook Indonesia's Sulawesi island just after midnight Friday, toppling homes and buildings, triggering landslides and killing a number of people. (Photo by Yusuf Wahil/AP Photo)