China's reusable Shenlong space plane launched on its fourth space mission earlier this month. What is it doing in Earth orbit, and how do those activities advance China's space goals?
Space science is interesting in its diversity. At times, it's an extremely complex, expensive and time-consuming effort to gather data. Look how challenging it was for Curiosity and Perseverance to reach the surface of Mars safely. Look at the JWST's long journey from clean room to Sun-Earth L2, and its eventual science results.

