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Beijing and Washington are said to be increasingly interested in each other’s space mission efforts, as China launches a secret space mission.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft blasted off on December 14 via a Long March 2F rocket, making it the third ever launch for the spacecraft. The rocket launched the spacecraft from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern Gansu province.<\/p>\n
China is thought to be ramping up its space mission timeline as this blast off happened just seven months after its last lift-off.<\/p>\n
Before the secretive launch, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company, backed out of its seventh planned mission for the X-37B reusable space plane, a US Space Force spacecraft. It also removed the Falcon Heavy rocket from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n
According to reports, mission USSF-52 was scrapped Wednesday for experts to “perform additional system checkouts”. <\/p>\n
China’s spacecraft is commonly known as the Shenlong, meaning ‘Divine Dragon’ in Mandarin.<\/p>\n
The information that has been publicised about the mission explains how the spacecraft is being used to test new payloads and operations in orbit.<\/p>\n
General Chance Saltzman, US Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations, said earlier this week that SpaceX’s and China’s lift-off timing was a coincidence.<\/p>\n
Air and Space Forces Magazine reported General Change Saltzman, US Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations, said: “Because it is a capability; the ability to put something in orbit, do some things, and bring it home and take a look at the results is powerful<\/p>\n
“And so these are two of the most watched objects in orbit while they’re in orbit.”<\/p>\n
The most recent Chinese launch took a total of 276 days. During the operation, the ship ejected an unidentified object into orbit.<\/p>\n