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China’s new prototype spacecraft “successfully landed” on Friday, marking an important step in its ambitions to run a permanent space station and send astronauts to the moon.
The spacecraft, which launched on Tuesday, safely arrived at a predetermined site, the China Manned Space Agency said, after a problem in an earlier part of the key test.
He said that the structure of the spacecraft’s cabin had been confirmed at the site as intact.
The test ship was launched with a cargo capsule aboard a new type of carrier rocket from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island of Hainan.
The space agency said the spacecraft was in orbit for two days and 19 hours and had completed a series of experiments.
The return has verified the spacecraft’s capabilities, such as its resistance to heat: Vehicles that re-enter Earth’s atmosphere face high temperatures.
The spacecraft is one day expected to transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to complete by 2022, and eventually to the Moon.
The new prototype expands the number of crew that can be dispatched to space from six to three in a previous model.
Friday’s safe landing follows a drawback in an earlier part of the test when an unspecified “anomaly” occurred during the return of the cargo pod, which was designed to carry equipment.
The completion of the experiment involved the maiden flight of the Long March 5B rocket, and occurred after two previous failures: the Long March 7A did not work in March, while the Long March 3B did not take off in early April.
Reaching
Observers said the successful mission marks a milestone for China.
Andrew Jones, who reports on China’s space activities for the SpaceNews website, said the country can “move forward with its space station plans, and the first module can now be launched in early 2021.”
“The successful landing of the new spacecraft from high orbit also shows that China is serious about sending astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, something only NASA has accomplished, and ultimately sending its astronauts to the Moon. “he added.
Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts.com, which specializes in China’s space program, added: “We can say that China now has a manned space capability similar to that of the United States and Russia.”
Beijing has invested heavily in its space program in recent years as it catches up with the United States, which is the only country that has sent a man to the moon.
The assembly of the Chinese space station Tiangong, whose name means “Heavenly Palace”, is expected to start this year and end in 2022.
China became the first nation to land on the opposite side of the Moon in January 2019, deploying a lunar rover that has traveled about 450 meters (1,500 feet) so far.
© Agence France-Presse
