China returns mysterious spacecraft to Earth after 276-day mission

The Chinese reusable spacecraft recently returned to Earth. It has spent more than six months on the journey.

Here's What We Know

The spacecraft set off on August 4, 2022. It was launched using a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan launch pad in China. This was the second orbital voyage for the spacecraft.

The mysterious mission, about which there is little information, ended on 8 May 2023. The spacecraft travelled for 276 days. It landed at the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

Researchers from the Celestial Empire are in no hurry to share details of the mission. They only noted that the experiment ended successfully and marked an "important breakthrough" in reusable spacecraft research.

Note that a similar American drone returned to Earth late last year. The vehicle, called the Boeing X-37B, was in orbit for 908 days. The US Space Force says the drone carried out a series of scientific experiments at an altitude of around 400km.

Source: space