China lands its X-37B copycat reusable mini-shuttle
China’s state-run press today announced in a short statement that its X-37B copycat reusable mini-shuttle has landed after a 268 day mission.
This was the spacecraft’s third mission since 2020, with the second lasting 276 days and the first two days. All three missions have involved the release of secondary objects, with the last two flights including additional rendezvous maneuvers with one object. It is not clear if that object on this third flight was ever redocked or grabbed by the mini-shuttle for return to Earth. Such a recapture is thought to have occurred on the second flight.
Very little information about these flights has been released by China.
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China’s state-run press today announced in a short statement that its X-37B copycat reusable mini-shuttle has landed after a 268 day mission.
This was the spacecraft’s third mission since 2020, with the second lasting 276 days and the first two days. All three missions have involved the release of secondary objects, with the last two flights including additional rendezvous maneuvers with one object. It is not clear if that object on this third flight was ever redocked or grabbed by the mini-shuttle for return to Earth. Such a recapture is thought to have occurred on the second flight.
Very little information about these flights has been released by China.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
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I would like to see one of these copies actually able to carry a human to the ISS.