(Courtesy CCTV) — The scaled-down version of the re-entry module of the Long March-7 carrier rocket landed on Sunday afternoon in a desert in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, close to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
China blasted off its new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 from the Wenchang space launch center in south China’s Hainan province on Saturday.
The re-entry module took a fresh new way to return by swirling slowly at a smaller angle.
According to related department with the landing site, the upper stage of the rocket and the re-entry module started their third orbit control and entered the return orbit after orbiting the Earth for 13 times.
The landing site started to tracking the re-entry module after it was separated from the upper stage at an altitude of 170 kilometers. The tracking showed that after the re-entry module passed through the atmosphere layer and the blackout zone, the main parachute opened. And then the search and recovery system started working until locating the landing point.
Data collected from the re-entry experiment will help with future research on a new generation manned spacecraft, according to Wu Ping, deputy director of China’s manned space program.
The Long March-7 is a medium-sized, two-stage rocket that can carry up to 13.5 tonnes to low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Experts say the 53.1-meter-long, 597-ton rocket will become the main carrier for China’s future space missions. (Courtesy China Central Television)