Tag: China
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China’s next-generation crew spacecraft lands after unpiloted test flight
The Chinese crew capsule after landing Friday, concluding an unpiloted orbital test flight. Credit: Xinhua A next-generation Chinese capsule designed to carry astronauts to the country’s planned space station, and eventually the moon, wrapped up a nearly three-day unpiloted orbital test flight Friday with a landing in northwestern China. The prototype for China’s new reusable…
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Experimental Chinese cargo return capsule malfunctions during re-entry
Artist’s illustration of the experimental cargo return vehicle. Credit: CCTV An experimental cargo return craft launched as a secondary payload on China’s Long March 5B rocket malfunctioned during its return to Earth on Wednesday, while an unpiloted prototype for the country’s next-generation crew capsule continues raising its orbit before its scheduled landing Friday, Chinese officials…
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China’s first Long March 5B rocket launches on crew capsule test flight
A Chinese Long March 5B rocket climbs into space Tuesday. Credit: CCTV Flying without astronauts on a demonstration flight in Earth orbit, a test model of a next-generation Chinese crew capsule lifted off Tuesday on top of a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket, the same launcher configuration that will loft segments of China’s planned space…
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First launch of Long March 5B lofts Next Generation Crew Space Capsule
China has launched a new generation crew space capsule at around 10:00 UTC on May 5, 2020, using the first Long March-5B rocket. The launch took place from the LC101 Launch Complex of the Wenchang Spaceflight Launch Center, in Hainan. (Lead image via CCTV) Landing is expected between 05:02 and 05:42 UTC on May 6,…
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China to debut new version of powerful Long March 5 rocket this week
A view of the next-generation Chinese crew spacecraft during pre-launch processing. Credit: CCTV A prototype for China’s next-generation human-rated spacecraft — flying on a test flight without astronauts — is scheduled to ride a new version of the country’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket into orbit this week. The Long March 5B rocket could take…
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Chinese rocket fails during launch of Indonesian communications satellite
The Palapa-N1 communications satellite during pre-launch testing. Credit: PSN A Long March 3B rocket malfunctioned during the launch of an Indonesian communications satellite Thursday, leading to sightings of fiery debris in the skies over Guam. Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, said the Long March 3B launcher failed after lifting off from the Xichang space center…
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China launches three military satellites
A Long March 2C rocket climbs into the sky with three Yaogan 30 satellites Monday. Credit: CCTV Three Chinese military satellites with undisclosed missions rocketed into a 370-mile-high (600-kilometer) orbit Tuesday on a Long March 2C launcher. The classified payloads lifted off at 0343 GMT Tuesday (11:43 p.m. EDT Monday) from the Xichang space center…
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Long March 2C successfully launched latest Yaogan Weixing mission
After losing the first Long March-7A one week ago, China launched a new group of triplet satellites for the Chuangxin-5 (CX-5) constellation. Launched under the name Yaogan Weixing-30 Group-6, the three satellites were orbited by a Long March-2C launch vehicle from the LC3 Launch Complex of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The launch took place…
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China announces failure in first launch of new Long March 7A rocket
This image of the Long March 7A rocket was posted on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform. A Chinese Long March 7A rocket failed to place a secret payload into orbit Monday, casting doubt on planned flights by the country’s other launchers that use similar engines. Chinese state media confirmed the launch failure Monday, but…
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Long March 3B launches Beidou-3G2Q
China launched a new navigation satellite on Monday, with the Beidou-3G2Q mission launching from the LC2 Launch Complex of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province, using a Long March-3B/G2 (Chang Zheng-3B/G2) launch vehicle. The launch occurred at 12:00 UTC. The Beidou-3G satellites are the Geosynchronous Earth Orbit component of the third phase of the…