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China successfully relaunches prototype reusable orbital aircraft

Long March 2D launches Yunhai-1 satellite from Jiuquan Space Center in 2019

For the first time, China has succeeded in re-launching a suborbital aircraft as part of a project to develop a reusable space transportation system.

The suborbital plane was launched vertically on August 26 from the Jiuquan cosmodrome, located in the Badyn Jaran desert. After that, the plane landed at the airport of Alashakh aimag in Inner Mongolia. Information about this flight was published by the general contractor CASC. The press release did not specify either the duration of the flight or its altitude. There are also no photographs. It is claimed that the flight tests were successful, and that this test was a new step in the development of China's reusable system for launching cargo into orbit.

The first flight of the system took place in July 2021. At that time, the orbital plane was also launched vertically from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome and landed horizontally at the airport of Alashakh aimag. The CASC reports that the aircraft simultaneously uses spacecraft and aviation technologies.

For the first time, China announced its intention to create an orbital aircraft in 2017. Then the CASC representative promised that the program would be tested in 2020, and as a result, the aircraft would be able to launch both payloads and astronauts into orbit.

China is also developing other reusable spacecraft. This is done by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the commercial company Space Transportation (which last year raised $46.3 million in investments to create a supersonic orbital aircraft) and other private space companies.

China successfully relaunches prototype reusable orbital aircraft