Story highlights The launch from the USS George H.W. Bush is called a "watershed event"

The drone landed at an air station in Maryland after a 65-minute flight

The Navy hopes to land a drone on a carrier this summer

The U.S. Navy has pulled off what the service's "air boss" called "a watershed event," launching a drone from an aircraft carrier.

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator completed a catapult launch from the USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia Tuesday morning.

"Today we saw a small, but significant pixel in the future picture of our Navy as we begin integration of unmanned systems into arguably the most complex warfighting environment that exists today: the flight deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier," the "air boss," Vice Adm. David Buss, commander of Naval Air Forces, said in a statement.

The drone landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, after a 65-minute flight around Chesapeake Bay, the Navy said.

Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator leaves the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush on Tuesday, May 14. The drone, propelled by a catapult, was the first to be launched from an aircraft carrier. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – The drone demonstrator is loaded onto an aircraft elevator in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – The drone taxis on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – The X-47B drone sits ready to launch from the deck of the aircraft carrier. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – Dave Lorenz, a deck operator for Northrop Grumman, has control of the drone as he moves it via an arm-mounted controller. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone is launched from aircraft carrier – The drone launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Photos: Drone launches from aircraft carrier Drone launched from aircraft carrier – The drone flies over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. Hide Caption 7 of 7

"The flight today demonstrated that the X-47B is capable of operation from a carrier, hand-off from one mission control station to another, flight through the national airspace, and recovery at another location without degradation in safety or precision," Matt Funk, the lead engineer for the UCAS program, said in statement.

The next milestone will be landing the craft back on the carrier as the flight deck pitches in the open sea, something onboard pilots consider one of the most difficult things they do. That may come sometime this summer, the Navy statement said.