Spaceplanes

Next up is China's very own spaceplane, the Shenlong or "Divine Dragon," which first flew in January 2011 (roughly the same time the J-20 took its maiden flight). While there's been plenty of speculation about the mission of the U.S. Air Force's super secret X-37B robot space shuttle, the United States isn't alone in having a reusable spaceplane. What interests some China watchers most about the Divine Dragon is the fact that China flew such a craft less than a year after the United States did. (Granted, the United States could have done so much earlier, given its decades of experience with the Space Shuttle, which could easily have been flown as a large, unmanned spaceplane.) Speculation surrounds both the U.S. and Chinese spaceplane programs, with observers suggesting the vehicles could be used for everything from spying on and destroying enemy satellities to simply repairing their own nation's satellites.

Chinese Internet

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