Saturday, August 23, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About Time Africa Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » World News » China’s mysterious space plane returns to Earth after 268 days in orbit

China’s mysterious space plane returns to Earth after 268 days in orbit

Details about the spacecraft and its mission remain largely unknown

September 11, 2024
in World News
0
China-mysterious-space--plane-returns-to-Earth

A notional rendering of China's reusable space plane. The exact appearance of the vehicle remains unknown. (Image credit: Erik Simonsen/Getty Images)

541
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

China’s mysterious space plane has returned to Earth after spending over 8 months in orbit. The reusable spacecraft landed at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in a remote section of northwest China on Friday (Sept. 6). It launched from the same site atop a Long March 2F rocket on Dec. 14, 2023, on its third mission, and spent 268 days in orbit, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.

While the exact capabilities of the space plane remain largely unknown, Xinhua states the craft will “pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future.”
It’s unknown what exactly China’s space plane was doing on this most recent mission  — or on any other mission, for that matter. As with seen in previous missions, spacecraft trackers on the ground observed the space plane releasing a small object into orbit.

“This object could be a subsatellite deployment, or it could be a piece of hardware ejected prior to end of mission and deorbit (the space plane’s first flight did something similar),” said astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in a post on X (formally Twitter).
The space plane appeared to conduct what is known as rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) with the object, meaning it tested capabilities to meet up with and get close to the object in space, SpaceNews reported.

These operations can be used to repair or perform upkeep on friendly satellites, and it is believed that military superpowers are refining these techniques to potentially tamper with adversary satellites during any future orbital combat.

China’s space plane launched on this recent mission just two days before the scheduled launch of the U.S. Space Force’s own reusable orbital vehicle, the X-37B.

ReadAlso

Inside China’s horrifying torture jails from gang-rape, human experiments and organ harvesting

There is zero chance of China and Russia going to war for Iran

That launch was scrubbed with about 30 minutes remaining in the countdown, and the X-37B would go on to launch two weeks later, on Dec. 28, 2023, on its seventh mission. Like with China’s space plane, the capabilities and missions of the X-37B are largely classified; it is known to be an orbital test bed for new technologies, but that’s about it.

India is also developing its own reusable orbital space plane named Pushpak.

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: ChinaOrbit
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Rebecca Cheptegei’s ex-boyfriend dies in hospital after burning Olympic runner alive

Next Post

iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, AirPods, Apple Watch launched

You MayAlso Like

World News

Chaos at Airport after passenger set fire to check-in desk

August 20, 2025
Russia-Ukraine

Russia pounds Ukraine with largest aerial bombardment in a month hours after Trump-Zelensky meeting

August 19, 2025
UK

Britain’s first transgender judge drags UK to court over ruling on biological sex

August 18, 2025
Featured

‘Don’t Delude Yourselves’: Why The Trump-Putin Summit Can’t End the War in Ukraine

August 18, 2025
US

OceanGate CEO ‘completely ignored’ flawed Titan sub before deadly Titanic trip, Coast Guard report finds

August 5, 2025
UAE

Saudi Arabia Executes Seven Africans In One Day Over Drug-Related Offenses

August 3, 2025
Next Post
apple-iphone-16-pro-max-plus-watch-10-ultra-airpods-4-launch-event

iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, AirPods, Apple Watch launched

How-Kamala-Harris-delivered-a-series-of-blows-to-Donald-Trump

How Kamala Harris delivered a series of blows to Donald Trump in a fiery presidential debate

Discussion about this post

NYSC Member Shares Harrowing Experience with Anambra Vigilantes

Brutalized female NYSC in Anambra —Dismissals make headlines. Convictions make justice

Ibom Air: My side of the story, by Comfort Emmanson

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: The Resumed Impunity Of Violent And Unlawful Dispossession of Agidiasie People’s Ancestral Land Inheritance and Farmlands Under the Custodian of the Iyase Of Ogwashi-uku Kingdom By “HRH” Ifechkwude Okonjo

Stripped, Beaten, Accused: NYSC Corps Members Brutalized by Anambra Vigilantes

The Unexplained Professorship of Stella Ngozi Lemchi, Vice-Chancellor of Alvan Ikoku Federal University

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1240 shares
    Share 496 Tweet 310
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1066 shares
    Share 426 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    971 shares
    Share 388 Tweet 243
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    903 shares
    Share 361 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

NYSC Member Shares Harrowing Experience with Anambra Vigilantes

August 22, 2025

Enugu Ministry of Science and Tech Commences e-Government Capacity Building

August 22, 2025

Snake species found capable of injecting venom even after death – with no loss of potency

August 22, 2025

NYSC Speaks On Assaulted Female Corps Member in Anambra

August 21, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIME AFRICA biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About Time Africa Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.