Reusable spacecraft returns
Print Edition
CHINA’S first reusable spacecraft landed yesterday after two days in orbit, a possible step toward lower-cost space flight, the government announced.
The craft was launched on Friday aboard a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. It tested reusable technologies during its flight and landed as planned at Jiuquan.
The successful flight marked the country’s important breakthrough in reusable spacecraft research and is expected to offer convenient and low-cost round trip transport for the peaceful use of the space.
Friday’s launch was the 14th mission of the Long March-2F carrier rocket, a family of rockets that have transported Shenzhou spacecraft into orbit on both crewed and uncrewed missions over the years.
China sent its first astronaut into orbit in 2003 on Shenzhou and has launched a space station. Last year, it became the first country to land a robot rover on the moon’s little-seen far side. A probe carrying another robot rover is en route to Mars.
The United States and the former Soviet Union both flew reusable spacecraft.
The US space shuttle flew 134 missions from the 1980s until 2011. Since then, the US military has developed the X-37, a robot glider that made its sixth flight in May.
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