X-47B flyby

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator flies over the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. On May 14, 2013, one of the U.S. Navy's two X-47B aircraft did what no unmanned aircraft has ever done before -- made a catapult launch from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

After taking off from the Bush, the Navy said, the X-47B made several planned low approaches to the carrier (under the control of an operator aboard the ship) off the coast of Virginia and then flew across Chesapeake Bay to land at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., after an approximately 65-minute flight.

In the slideshow that follows, we'll take you through some of the steps that got the X-47B to its historic May 2013 launch.

Editors' note: This slideshow was first published on December 1, 2012. It was updated later in December with photos of the X-47B on the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman at sea, and then again on May 14, 2013, with photos from the X-47B's flight from the USS George H.W. Bush.