China launches experimental crew spacecraft, testing its ambitions in deep space

Earlier this morning, China launched a new fundamental rocket, which was carrying a prototype spacecraft in deep space. China declared the launch to be a success, and now paves the way for a host of critical releases over the next year.

This latest launch from the Wenchang launch site in southern China sent a new rocket called Long March 5B into orbit. A variant of China’s long March 5, it is a massive vehicle with four strap reinforcements that provide additional push-off at takeoff. On top of the rocket was a special prototype: a new manned spacecraft somewhat similar to the Orion capsule from deep space that NASA has been developing to take people to the Moon and beyond. There were no people on this flight, but the capsule could be used to transport people to low Earth orbit or perhaps around the Moon in the future.

“It is designed to increase China’s human space flight capabilities, both in low Earth orbit and in deep space,” said Andrew Jones, journalist and correspondent for Space news covering China’s space flight programHe says The Verge “If they have a launcher that can do this, they could send this new spacecraft on a circumlunar mission like Apollo 8,” he says.

China’s launch today was also critical to the country’s future space ambitions in the coming year. Later this summer, China intends to launch its Tianwen-1 mission, which will send the country’s first lander and rover to Mars, as well as a spacecraft that will orbit the red planet. Then, towards the end of the year, China will launch its next mission to the Moon, called Chang’e 5, which will try to return a sample of lunar material to Earth. Although China has landed several spacecraft on the Moon, this type of mission is something the country has never done before. Both missions, Mars and Luna, will launch on March 5, so a successful launch of 5B sets the stage for those missions to occur.

This successful launch comes after a series of recent rocket failures. In April, a Chinese Long March 3B rocket failed on the way to space and was unable to properly deploy the Indonesian communications satellite it was carrying. In March, the first launch of a Long March 7A rocket also failed and did not put a classified Chinese satellite into orbit.

STR / AFP photo via Getty Images

“They were not related to this rocket today, but the fact that they had two failures, amid the operational and management changes they have made due to the coronavirus, there were question marks,” says Jones. “So this was a great release in terms of pressure.” He adds: “In terms of management, they had to demonstrate that there was no kind of persistent problem, which was causing launch failures.” The long March 5 has also had its own problems. A major rocket failure during a launch in 2017 caused long-standing delays on many of China’s space flight missions.

Now that this new prototype is in space, China will test its ability to enter a higher orbit beyond Earth’s low orbit. Flight controllers will turn on the vehicle’s engines and raise the spacecraft to a higher altitude that reaches nearly 5,000 miles (or 8,000 kilometers), according to Jones.

Today’s launch was also intended to test China’s ability to launch a new module called Tianhe, which will be the core of its next space station around Earth. According to Jones, the prototype deep space vehicle at today’s launch has roughly the same mass as Tianhe will be. The Tianhe launch could happen as early as 2021. The final space station that China plans to build will be able to support three crew members at any time, Jones says. China’s previous space stations, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2, only had visitors for short periods of time.

The ambitions of human space flight in China’s deep space are clear, but its next steps have yet to be announced. Chinese officials have discussed sending humans to the Moon in the 2030s, but much more hardware needs to be built for that to happen, in particular a lunar lander and potentially a new rocket to take humans into deep space. Jones says. “The Moon missions have plans,” he says. “We can see in this mission today that they are really thinking about it and working to achieve it, but there is still a lot to decide.”

However, today’s flight does indicate that China is serious about sending its astronauts beyond Earth orbit. “They have become part of the conversation about what humanity is going to do in terms of deep space exploration in the future,” says Jones.