China’s first reusable spacecraft was blasted into space on Friday morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. According to a government aerospace agency, the mission will prepare the Chinese space program for a new generation of manned space missions.
The reusable spacecraft blasted off early Friday morning atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported. The outlet noted, “After a period of in-orbit operation, the spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China. It will test reusable technologies during its flight, providing technological support for the peaceful use of space.”
However, the source hinted it was similar to the X-37B, an experimental Orbital Test Vehicle built by the US that is also reusable – and shrouded in similar secrecy. The X-37B is also currently in space, having departed for its sixth mission in May.
X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The X-37B is an unmanned craft, but China’s might not be. According to a March statement by the Xi’an Aerospace Propulsion Institute, a research and development company in the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) conglomerate, the mission “will be an important scientific experimental mission and will lay the foundation for future manned space programs.”
Beijing’s space program has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, accomplishing firsts such as placing a robotic vehicle on the far side of the moon. A new heavy-lift rocket, the Long March 5, was successfully tested in May and will one day lift a Chinese manned moon mission into orbit, perhaps as early as 2030.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
