On Sunday, the Chinese private space company, whose official name is Beijing Tianbing Technology (Space Pioneer), launched its rocket Tianlong-2 into space.
Tianlong-2 (“Sky Dragon 2”) is said to have successfully placed its payload consisting of a satellite into orbit around Earth. This means that Space Pioneer becomes the first private space company ever to reach orbit around Earth on its first attempt, according to Space News. Tianlong-2 also becomes the first rocket from a Chinese company to reach space using liquid fuel.
The successful liquid propellant launch marks a major milestone in the development of China’s commercial space sector, the dawn of which occurred in late 2014 with a government policy change.
-spacenews.com
Space Pioneer’s future plans include the construction of Tianlong-3, which is expected to have the capacity to deliver 15 tons of material to Earth’s low orbit LEO. Tianlong-3 will also have a reusable rocket stage, something that is said to resemble the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
In the video above, you can check out Space Pioneer’s launch of Tianlong-2 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on April 2nd.
