China now has its very own space plane. The Chinese development of spaceplane technology will be remarkable if they manage to overcome the problems Dyna-Soar and the Space Shuttle faced, and the challenges SpaceX’s Starship is now facing as well.
China launched a classified reusable vehicle to Earth orbit on Thursday, making it the country's second such launch in the last two years. According to reports, the test spacecraft was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
Chinese state-run news outlet Xinhua claims that “The test spacecraft will be in orbit for a period of time before returning to the scheduled landing site in China, during which reusable and in-orbit service technology verification will be carried out as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space.”
According to additional information from SpaceNews.com, the spacecraft was afterwards tracked by the 18th Space Defense Squadron of the Un...