• China did not release images of the reusable spacecraft it says completed a two day space flight.
China's government announced Sunday that its first reusable spacecraft landed after two days in orbit. The success of the Chinese experiment suggests a new way to achieve space flight at lower cost.
"The secretive, military-run space program has released few details of the craft, which was launched Friday aboard a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's desert northwest," reports the Associated Press:
The craft landed as planned at Jiuquan, the official Xinhua News Agency said. State media have yet to publish any photos. The craft's size and shape are unclear.
The flight "marks an important breakthrough in our country's research on reusable spacecraft" that promise a "more convenient and inexpensive way" to reach space, Xinhua said.
China fired its first astronaut into orbit in 2003 and has launched a space station. Last year, it became the first country to land a robot rover on the moon's little-seen far side. A probe carrying another robot rover is en route to Mars.
No photos have been made available. More at AP.
