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)

Full length portrait of female skier, Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, USA. (Photo by Anatoliy Gleb/Getty Images)

Singer Taylor Swift poses at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Inglewood, California, April 3, 2016. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Dancers perform during the Sambodromo do Brasil jungle party in the Cave stage, Elrow Town at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on August 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Redferns)

Miss Colombia 2015 Ariadna Gutierrez rehearses for the upcoming Miss Universe telecast while at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 12. 2015. (Photo by Darren Decker/Reuters/The Miss Universe Organization)

Plebes form a human pyramid to place an upperclassman hat atop the 21-foot vegetable shortening-covered Herndon Monument, a tradition marking the end of their plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, U.S., May 23, 2022. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

A group of boys toss their friend into the water at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States on June 25, 2024. New England temperatures reached into the high 80's(F) and low 90's(F) this week after a heatwave brought temperatures close to 100(F) last week. Heat domes causing heatwaves have been hitting the US over the past week with high alerts placed in the I-95 corridor on the East Coast. The National weather service has predicted above-normal temperatures for most the US for the month of July. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu via Getty Images)