After years of hype, the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter performed a vertical landing. This effectively confirms that it is capable of landing in confined areas, one of the requirements when it was commisioned.

“Today’s vertical landing onto a 95-foot square pad showed that we have the thrust and the control to maneuver accurately both in free air and in the descent through ground effect,” said F-35 Lead STOVL Pilot Graham Tomlinson.

This is very cool stuff, watch the video, it has takeoff, hover and vertical landing. The Marine Corps wants to start training, but the delivery has been delayed (again). Can we start calling them Space Marines already?

Full story at PopSci.