China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) announced that China’s reusable suborbital space carrier made its first successful repeated-use experiment flight on Aug. 26.
The suborbital vehicle launched vertically from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Aug. 26 Beijing time, according to CASC, China’s main space contractor. It landed stably at an airport in Alxa Right Banner in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after finishing a flight in the suborbit as planned, according to the announcement. The short statement provided neither images of the craft nor information such as time, duration or apogee of the launch.
CASC’s statement declared the complete success of the flight test, and represents a leap in the development of China’s space transportation technology from single-use to reusable.
