This is the second time in two years that China has launched a classified vehicle on a mystery mission.
A Long March 2F rocket carrying a "test spacecraft" lifted off from a satellite launch center in the Gobi Desert.
In order to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space, reuse and in-orbit service technology verification will be carried out when the test vehicle returns to China.
News about China's space program.
Xinhua's update is two paragraphs long and doesn't give us any more information. It is thought that the mystery vehicle is a robotic space plane, similar to the U.S. Space Force's X-37B.
In September 2020, China launched a re-enactment of a test vehicle. The vehicle, which may or may not be the same one that lifted off on Thursday, stayed aloft for two days and released a small amount of cargo before landing in China.
The X-37B space plane has been in the air for more than 800 days on its sixth mystery mission. Two Boeing-built space planes are thought to be in the Space Force.
There was a lot of activity on a busy day in space. The first rocket launch of the day was at 1 a.m. when Rocket Lab lofted a spy satellite. The sun rises and sets at the same time.
Also on Thursday, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launched a missile-warning satellite for the Space Force, Blue Origin sent six people to suborbital space, and China launched a Earth-observation satellite.
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