spacetoday.net: Chinese prototype crewed spacecraft lands

Chinese prototype crewed spacecraft lands

Posted: Sun, May 10, 2020, 1:09 PM ET (1709 GMT)
China next-generation crewed spacecraft landing (CASC)

A next-generation Chinese crewed spacecraft landed early Friday after a nearly three-day test flight. The spacecraft, launched without a crew Tuesday on a Long March 5B, reentered and landed in the desert Dongfeng landing area at 1:49 am EDT (0549 GMT). The spacecraft performed several maneuvers during the mission, raising the apogee of its orbit to about 8,000 kilometers in order to test a high-speed reentry like that for a return from a mission beyond Earth orbit. While a fully-functional version of the spacecraft can support missions to deep space, China's crewed lunar plans are vague, with such missions potentially taking place in the mid-2030s.