The Long March 2F carrying the uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft climbs into a blue sky above Jiuquan spaceport, Nov. 25, 2025. Credit: CASC
HELSINKI — China’s secretive spaceplane has released an object into orbit during its ongoing fourth mission, according to space surveillance firm LeoLabs.
A Long March 2F rocket launched the orbital spaceplane into low Earth orbit from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert Feb. 7 local time. The spacecraft then raised its orbit to a roughly circular 593-kilometer altitude.
LeoLabs stated it detected an “unknown object in the vicinity of the Chinese Shenlong reusable spaceplane,” at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, June 21 (0230 UTC, June 22) in a June 22 post on social media platform X. The post stated that the object was first observed by LeoLabs’ Kiwi Space Radar tracking radar in New Zealand and did not correlate to any other object in the firm’s catalog.
“Following additional observations across our global network and analysis via LeoLabs Delta, we have independently cataloged this object and assessed with high confidence that it was released from the Chinese spaceplane,” the post read.
