ANKARA

China on Sunday successfully conducted its first 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) vertical takeoff and landing flight test of a reusable launch vehicle, state-run media said.

This marks the largest vertical takeoff and landing flight test of a reusable launch vehicle in the country to date, and the first application of a domestically developed deep-throttling liquid oxygen-methane engine in a 10-kilometer return flight, reported Global Times, a Communist Party outlet.

Separately, on Saturday, China launched an astronomical satellite developed with France to capture bursts of high-energy gamma rays from distant parts of the universe.

Designed for an operational lifespan of at least five years up to two decades, the Space-based Multi-band Variable Object Monitor will orbit the Earth at over 600 kilometers (372 miles) above the surface.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid