Beijing: China's state media reported that an experimental spacecraft made its way back to Earth on Monday after spending 276 days in orbit. This mission was significant because it tested China's reusable space technologies.

According to state media, the unmanned spacecraft returned to the Jiuquan launch facility in northwest China on Monday as planned.

No information was provided regarding the nature of the spacecraft, the technologies it tested, its altitude, or the locations of its orbits since launch in early August 2022. The public has not yet seen any images of the craft.

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According to state media, the test represents a "important" development in China's research into reusable spacecraft technology that will make it easier and less expensive to launch future space missions.

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In a mission that was also largely secretive in 2021, what might have been a comparable spacecraft travelled to the edge of space and returned to Earth on the same day. At the time, the principal space contractor for China claimed that it touched down "horizontally" on Earth.

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Chinese social media commentators have conjectured that Beijing is working on a spacecraft similar to the US Air Force's X-37B, an autonomous spacecraft that can stay in orbit for years.

After spending more than 900 days in orbit, the unmanned, reusable X-37B made its sixth and most recent return to Earth in November of last year.