China – Page 24 – Spaceflight Now

China’s Yutu rover dies on the moon

August 4, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Chinese rover sent to the moon in 2013 has stopped operating, officials announced Wednesday, ending a groundbreaking 31-month mission that made discoveries in lunar geology and catapulted China’s space program to new heights.

Re-entering Chinese rocket stage streaks across Western U.S.

July 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

A flaming fragment of space junk from China’s newest satellite launcher blazed through Earth’s atmosphere over the Western United States late Wednesday.

Chinese intelligence-gathering satellite launched by Long March 4B rocket

June 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Long March 4B rocket lifted off from a remote launch base in the Gobi Desert Wednesday and placed a secretive spacecraft in orbit 375 miles above Earth, likely adding a new electronic surveillance station to the Chinese government’s growing satellite fleet.

Prototype for new Chinese human-rated spacecraft lands in desert

June 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

A sub-scale landing craft for China’s next-generation crew capsule parachuted back to Earth on Sunday, one day after rocketing into orbit aboard the country’s new Long March 7 launcher.

China’s new Long March 7 rocket successful on first flight

June 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

The new kerosene-fueled Long March 7 rocket rocket, developed to become a workhorse for a planned Chinese space station and the country’s clandestine military space program, flew into orbit Saturday on its inaugural flight from a launch base on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

China’s most powerful rocket set for maiden flight

June 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

A brand new Chinese launcher powered by kerosene-burning rocket engines could take off on its first flight as soon as Saturday, also debuting a new spaceport on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

China’s Beidou navigation network grows with successful launch

June 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 3C rocket boosted a fresh satellite into orbit Sunday to join the country’s Beidou navigation system, deploying the craft into an elliptical orbit ranging more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

Long March 4B lofts Earth-viewing satellites for China, Argentina

May 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Three Earth observation satellites for the Chinese government and a commercial Argentine startup launched Monday, entering an orbit 300 miles above Earth to begin mapping missions.

China to debut new rocket and spaceport next month

May 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

China plans to launch its first Long March 7 rocket, a new kerosene-fueled booster capable of carrying supplies to the country’s planned space station, by the end of June on a test flight that will reportedly loft an unpiloted prototype of a future crew capsule.

Chinese rocket lofts government surveillance satellite

May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Long March 2D booster fired into space Sunday from a remote Chinese spaceport in the Gobi Desert, delivering a military spy satellite to a 400-mile-high perch in polar orbit.