China's reusable spacecraft returned to its intended landing site on September 6 after two days in orbit, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
The success of the test marked an important breakthrough in China's research on reusable spacecraft technology, which could provide a more convenient and inexpensive round trip for the peaceful use of space, the report said.
On September 4, China successfully launched a reusable test spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center using the Long March-2 F carrier rocket.
This was the fourteenth launch of a Long March-2 F carrier rocket.
The test spacecraft is aimed at verifying the viability of the spacecraft's reusable technology.
In October 2017, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said it was working with agencies within China to develop a reusable vehicle, with the first flight planned for around 2020.
The ultimate goal is not only to reduce the cost of transporting a unit of payload to one-tenth the cost of existing disposable launch vehicles but also to dramatically shorten the launch preparation time and hopefully make it possible to make flights to and from the vehicle like an airplane.
Chen Hongbo, director of the research and development center at China Aerospace's First Research Institute, said at the time that China's reusable launch vehicle had the characteristics of both a spacecraft and an air vehicle.
Compared with traditional disposable rockets, China is building on its current rocket engines and improving them through technology to make them reusable, he said.
