China’s experimental reusable unmanned spacecraft successfully completed a test flight Sept. 6, after orbiting Earth for two days, South China Morning Post reported. China’s Shenlong (Mandarin for “Divine Dragon") spaceplane may be China’s response to the U.S. X-37B, which can be launched from beneath a plane, a military source told SCMP.
“There were many firsts in this launch,” the military source said. “The spacecraft is new; the launch method is also different.”
NASASpaceflight.com reported Sept. 4 that Shenlong was launched that day by a Long March 2G/T3 launch vehicle from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.