China Lands Experimental Reusable Spacecraft
China has successfully landed its experimental reusable spacecraft, marking another advance in its space exploration program. The achievement comes as NASA prepares for its Artemis II lunar mission, highlighting a new era of global competition in space technology.
- This was the fourth flight of the uncrewed spacecraft, which is unofficially known as Shenlong, or "Divine Dragon". - The spacecraft was launched into orbit by a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. - Previous missions have seen the spacecraft remain in orbit for extended periods, with the second and third flights lasting 276 and 266 days, respectively. - The vehicle is believed to be similar in size and function to the U.S. Space Force's secretive X-37B spaceplane, capable of conducting in-orbit operations and landing horizontally on a runway. - After its missions, the spacecraft has previously landed at a 3.1-mile-long runway at Lop Nur, a former nuclear test site. - During a previous mission, the spaceplane was observed to have released at least one object into orbit, which may have been a small satellite or a monitoring device. - China is also developing other reusable space technologies, including a new-generation crewed spacecraft named Mengzhou and the Long March 10 rocket, with the goal of landing astronauts on the moon before 2030. - The development of reusable spacecraft is seen as a key step in reducing launch costs and increasing the frequency of access to space for a variety of missions, including satellite deployment, maintenance, and potentially military applications.
