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| Image credit: Xinhua |
Launch of Long March 10B Demo
CASC/CALT launched a Long March 10B (Chang Zheng 10B) from Wenchang in Hainan at 0415 UTC, or 1215 local time (CST). This was the maiden flight of the Long March 10B, a medium-lift launch vehicle which includes a reusable first stage. The first stage made a re-entry burn and a landing burn and was successfully caught by a system of steel cables aboard the droneship Linghangzhe in the South China Sea. This makes the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) the third organisation ever to propulsively recover an orbital-class first stage booster, and the first outside the United States. The next milestone will be the re-use of the booster, which CALT wants to achieve before the end of 2026. Meanwhile, the upper stage of the rocket successfully delivered an experimental communications satellite named Chuangxin-26 to orbit. The Long March 10B is a variant of the planned Long March 10, which will include a third stage and side boosters and could eventually become the launch vehicle of China's crewed lunar missions. Another variant, the 10A, also had its maiden flight in February, making today's launch the 2nd flight of the Long March 10 family overall. [Source: CALT]
RV-X Hop Test
JAXA performed a successful 40 second test hop of their RV-X rocket today, a prototype reusable first stage booster. The agency is hoping to develop this into a reusable successor to its H3 rocket by the early 2030s. [Source: NVS Live]
Super Heavy Booster 20 Static Fire
SpaceX performed a static fire test of Super Heavy Booster 20 today ahead of the planned launch of Starship Flight 13 some time in the next couple of weeks. SpaceX will not attempt a recovery of the booster or of Starship itself on this flight. The booster will attempt a controlled water landing in the Gulf of Mexico and the ship will attempt a controlled water landing in the Indian Ocean. Flight 14 is then expected to be the first attempt to get Starship into orbit. [Source: NSF]
International Space Station Activities
The crew of the International Space Station carried out routine research and maintenance, and prepared for the arrival of the Soyuz MS-29 crew next week. [Source: NASA]
