China launches new reusable capsule for flights with taikonauts – IT Pro – News

China has tested a successful space capsule for the first time with a trip outside the atmosphere. The new capsule, the name of which is not yet known, is intended for space travel to China’s future space station.

China has been working on the new space capsule for travel with taikonauts, Chinese astronauts, for some time. Now the capsule has completed its first successful test flight. The spacecraft was launched aboard a Long Mars 5B rocket earlier this week, the country’s most recent and heaviest rocket, making its first successful flight.

The vehicle has orbited seven Earth orbits in space. In addition, he reached an altitude of almost 8000 kilometers at his height. The vessel returned to Earth on Friday, and successfully landed in a Chinese desert. The landing seems to be successful for the time being, writes Space News. The vehicle landed upright and came down on three parachutes. There were no crew members on board.

China is building two versions of the new module. There is a 14-ton capsule, which allows six taikonauts to go to a low Earth orbit. A larger version has a loading weight of 21.6 tons and is intended to transport loads further into space.

The new module is a successor to China’s existing Shenzhou capsule. With the new capsule, the country wants to bring more taikonauts into space, for example to its future space station. Later, the country also wants to carry out missions to the moon.

Unlike the Shenzhou capsule, the new capsule, which has no name yet, is partially reusable. The vehicle has a replaceable heat shield that is reinstalled for every mission.

The flight of the capsule was only part of the mission. It was mainly about a successful flight of the Long March 5B. That rocket can send large loads into space. China wants to use that to build a new, larger space station. The country previously had small space stations of one and two modules, but Tiangong-3 needs to get much bigger. China has previously speculated that the space station will also be open to international astronauts. The new capsule is probably mainly used to send astronauts there.

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