Posted on 05/11/2020 10:03:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Most of the rocket was made up of hollow propellant tanks, but the dense turbomachinery of the core stage’s two YF-77 main engines could have survived the fall from space.
The Long March 5B rocket lifted off May 5 from the Wenchang launch center on Hainan Island in southern China, carrying a prototype for China’s next-generation crew capsule into orbit on an unpiloted test flight.
The launch May 5 marked the debut of a new configuration of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket. On the Long March 5B, Chinese designers removed the rocket’s second stage and replaced it with a longer volume for payloads.
It launched with four kerosene-fueled strap-on boosters, which dropped off the rocket around three minutes after liftoff, and a hydrogen-fueled cryogenic core stage that entered orbit along with the crew capsule testbed.
Without reignitable engines, the core stage was left in a low-altitude orbit where it quickly succumbed to atmospheric drag.
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightnow.com ...
“… becoming the most massive object in nearly 30 years to perform an uncontrolled re-entry from orbit...”
The crux.
So when does the capsule come down? That will have heat shields.
Short march into the deep sea. I do feel better though they haven’t mastered 50-year-old technology. No thanks to that bastard Bill Clinton.
Do you notice that even the Russians haven’t even given the Chinese that information?
Just read “Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?”
I would encourage many to read this.
Just stupid.
China has not the capabilities to rise to that level.
Yep, Sparta said the same thing about Athens too. GG dude.
LOL!
China has nothing.
Most amusing is their actions in the South China Seas.
Only the US prevents their neighbors from arming themselves with nukes to repel China.
LOL!
I admit it’[s been a wile since I looked at this.
But the ‘meme’ is silly.
Well said. He and Loral. Ugh!
What do they expect. It was made in China.
Long march....off short pier.
Did not read it but am familiar with the premise.
Xi has GOT to know Trump will not back down - just by the way he negotiated the trade deal. Unless Xi is expecting the Dems to throttle Trump back?
four kerosene-fueled strap-on boosters
I didn't know China even *had* shops like that...
It stopped five times on the way down, tiny cartoonish robots jumped out on all sides, circled the rocket, then jumped back in the same doors they'd come out, then the descent resumed.
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