Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

China’s new experimental spacecraft returns to Earth – after experiencing mysterious malfunction

Chinese space agency hopes capsule can one day carry six astronauts into space

Friday 08 May 2020 16:37 BST

A Long March 5B rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch site on China’s southern Hainan island on 5 May (STR/AFP/Getty)

An experimental Chinese spacecraft has returned to Earth after a mysterious malfunction.

The craft is part of a mission to increase Beijing’s presence in space – its own version of the International Space Station is part of the plans.

The craft was launched from a new heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March 5B, from Hainan island on Tuesday.

It then orbited around Earth before dropping into the atmosphere and landing back in China as planned, according to state media.

But its mission had been hit by a mysterious malfunction with a “flexible and inflatable cargo return capsule” that was being tested as part of the launch, and which China gave no further information on. The China Manned Space Agency has said only that it operated abnormally during reentry on Wednesday and data is being analysed.

The spacecraft’s mission did not include any crew, but reportedly was a test of a capsule that could one day carry Chinese astronauts into space. It is said to be an improvement on the Shenzhou capsule based on the former Soviet Union’s Soyuz model and can carry six astronauts instead of three.

The spacecraft was flying stably in a “highly elliptical orbit, with the power supply, measurements and control links normal”, the official China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation had said earlier, following reports of the issues, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China is working on a permanent orbiting station after being excluded from the International Space Station, largely because of US objections.

Beijing previously launched an experimental space station and plans four crewed and four cargo missions to finish a permanent space station within about two years.

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Show all 10

1/10Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas from fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

China’s burgeoning space programme achieved a milestone by landing a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon last year and plans to send a lander and rover to Mars.

The programme has developed rapidly, especially since its first crewed mission in 2003, and has sought cooperation with space agencies in Europe and elsewhere.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies