Tag: China
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China Roundup: Tianlong-3 static fire anomaly, Chang’e 6 sample return, and next-generation rockets
Throughout the last few weeks, several events in Chinese spaceflight have created international headlines. After launching a Chang Zheng 2C rocket that would later fall onto an inhabited village, a Tianlong-3 rocket was unexpectedly released during a static fire test and would crash in an area close to the launch site. However, not all of…
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Chinese Rocket’s First Stage Detaches During Test, Lands Off-site
Beijing Tianbing Technology Co. reported on Sunday that a structural failure during a test caused the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket to detach from its launch pad and land in a hilly area near Gongyi city in central China. The incident, confirmed by Space Pioneer in a statement on its official WeChat account, did…
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Chinese Space Pioneer’s Rocket Test Ends in Catastrophic Failure
Chinese commercial space company Space Pioneer suffered a major setback on Sunday when a test firing of its Tianlong-3 launch vehicle’s first stage ended in a dramatic explosion at a facility in Gongyi county, Henan province. The intended static-fire test, designed to assess the first stage’s readiness for orbital flight, went awry as amateur footage…
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China Retrieves Nearly Two Kilograms of Lunar Samples from Moon’s Far Side
China’s Chang’e-6 reentry capsule successfully landed back on Earth on June 25, concluding a 53-day mission that retrieved 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples from the moon’s far side. The capsule, recovered as planned in Inner Mongolia’s grasslands of Siziwang Banner, was airlifted to Beijing and opened on June 26 to retrieve the sample canister, the…
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Rocket Report: China flies reusable rocket hopper; Falcon Heavy dazzles
Welcome to Edition 6.50 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX launched its 10th Falcon Heavy rocket this week with the GOES-U weather satellite for NOAA, and this one was a beauty. The late afternoon timing of the launch and atmospheric conditions made for great photography. Falcon Heavy has become a trusted rocket for the US government,…
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Rocks from the far side of the Moon landed on Earth Tuesday
A small spacecraft landed in Inner Mongolia on Tuesday, bringing samples from the far side of the Moon back to Earth. This was not China’s first robotic mission to return a few pounds of dust and pebbles from the lunar surface—that came with the Chang’e 5 mission in December 2020. However, this was the first…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon Heavy returns with GOES-U, Firefly Alpha launch attempt
Following a week in which Tropical Storm Alberto brought high seas, wind, and rain-related delays to the launch schedule in Florida, SpaceX managed to get back on track this week with launches from all three of the active Falcon launch pads, including a Falcon Heavy. Toward the end of the week, the Japanese Aerospace and…
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China Roundup: Chang’e 6 lands on the Moon, and record-breaking EVA
China’s Chang’e 6 landed on and sampled the far side of the Moon while the Shenzhou-18 crew performed a record-breaking spacewalk at the Tiangong Space Station. Additionally, 10 more rockets were launched from the country in the last few weeks. Chang’e 6 lands on the far side of the Moon China’s sixth uncrewed lunar exploration…
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Space Pioneer Secures $207 Million for Reusable Rocket, Targets Megaconstellation Contracts
Chinese commercial space company Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., Ltd, has announced a successful funding round worth more than 1.5 billion yuan ($207 million) on June 6. This investment, termed “C+,” involves at least 15 investors, including private equity and state-linked investment entities. The funding will primarily support the development and…
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China lands on the Moon again, taking another step toward human missions
China landed a spacecraft on the Moon this weekend for the fourth time, successfully placing its Chang’e 6 lander in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon. After the landing on Saturday evening (United States time), the autonomous spacecraft will spend about 48 hours collecting samples. It will do so by…