At around 3 p.m. ET on May 24, China's mysterious Shenlong space plane released an unidentified flying object 372 miles (600 kilometers) above Earth's surface. Experts outside China don't know exactly what the object is, but they believe it may be a small satellite or a piece of hardware ejected before the craft is scheduled to deorbit.
The U.S. Space Force has been tracking the space plane since it launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Launch Center on Dec. 14. Little is known about the craft, although it appears to be similar to the clandestine Boeing X-37B space plane developed by the U.S., which is capable of making years-long excursions into orbit. China's secret space plane first launched in 2020 and remained in orbit for just two days. However, it stayed aloft for 276 days during its second voyage, which began in late 2022.
