China's space cargo shuttle highlights reusablity, cost-saving

China's Haolong space cargo shuttle, which will be unveiled at the upcoming 15th China Air Show, highlights outstanding reusability, which will significantly reduce the cost of cargo transport mission in space.

The space shuttle, developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute under the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), was among the winning projects of China's development plans for low-cost cargo spacecraft and manned lunar rover.

It has been awarded a contract for the engineering flight verification phase, and will be officially unveiled at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which will be held in south China's Zhuhai City from Nov. 12 to 17.

The developers said that Haolong can re-enter the atmosphere and land horizontally, realizing reuse in a flight-like manner, which will greatly reduce the cost of cargo transport mission in space.

The Haolong space cargo shuttle is a large-winged spacecraft. It will be sent into the space station's orbit by a carrier rocket. After entering orbit, it will unfold its wings immediately, approach the space station, and conduct rendezvous and docking through orbital maneuvering strategies such as long-range autonomous guidance and short-range autonomous control.

"During the docking period, the cargo hold of Haolong will be opened and connected to the space station cabin, and astronauts can enter and exit the cargo hold freely to fetch the cargo brought to the space station or place the materials to be sent to earth according to their needs. After completing the cargo transport mission, Haolong will separate from the space station, autonomously deorbit and brake, re-enter the atmosphere, and land horizontally on the designated airport runway without power with due energy management. After inspection, maintenance and repair, it will be able to perform cargo transport missions again," said Fang Yuanpeng, chief designer of Haolong space cargo shuttle.

At present, the design scheme of the space shuttle has been completed, and the project has entered the stage of full-scale engineering research and development.

"We applied the latest technological achievements to Haolong, giving new vitality to the space shuttle. Haolong has strong maneuverability, giving it more chances and a wider window for returning safely. At the same time, we have better flight mechanics environment today, and landing on the airport runway facilitates the rapid intervention of ground support resources, making the space shuttle safer, more reliable and more convenient for the mission," Fang said.

China's space cargo shuttle highlights reusablity, cost-saving

China's domestically developed C919 large passenger aircraft began flight transport service on two new routes on Sunday.

At 11:19 on Sunday, a C919 aircraft smoothly landed at the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang City, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, from Shanghai in east China some 1,000 kilometers away, marking the C919's first commercial flight in northeast China. The airport celebrated the occasion with a water salute.

"The seats are very spacious, and the flight experience is excellent," said a passenger.

"Flying on a homegrown plane feels especially smooth. I took the inaugural C919 flight to Chengdu, and unexpectedly, within a year, more than a dozen routes have been launched. I think the airline operations in our country are particularly impressive," said another passenger.

The other new air route opened on the day for the C919 is the one from northwest China's Xi'an City to south China's Guangzhou City about 1,400 kilometers away.

The Xi'an-Guangzhou service became the third domestic air route operated from Xi'an to use the C919, following China Eastern Airlines' earlier introduction of this aircraft on its Xi'an-Beijing and Xi'an-Shanghai routes. This also means that the Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an has become a major airport in China in terms of flights performed by the C919.

Notably, China Eastern Airlines in January 2025 started using the C919 jetliner for regular flights between Shanghai in east China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the country's south -- which is the airline's first scheduled commercial flight service to Hong Kong using the C919.

The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.

China initiated the C919 project in 2007, and it was developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC). The first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015.

China's homegrown C919 aircraft begins to serve two new domestic air routes