China launched a reusable experimental spacecraft with a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gobi Desert on Friday afternoon, according to a major space contractor.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the leading State-owned space conglomerate, said in a statement the robotic vehicle will stay in its orbit for a period to verify reusable technologies, which will be the technological foundation for peaceful exploration of space. Then the spacecraft will fly back to Earth and land on a preset site.

The company did not elaborate on details of the mission and the spacecraft, nor publish pictures of liftoff or scenes inside the command and control hall.

An article published in March by the company's Xi'an Aerospace Propulsion Institute in Shaanxi province, one of the country's space propulsion institutes, said "the next Long March 2F flight will be an important scientific experimental mission and will lay the foundation for future manned space programs."

The article also said the mission "will be crucial to next-generation aerospace technologies", therefore the institute "must make sure it will succeed."

According to experts, reusable spacecraft will have a wide range of applications, such as making space tours for ordinary people, transporting astronauts, resupplying space stations as well as placing satellites into orbit at lower cost.

Friday's mission was the 344th launch of the Long March rocket fleet and the 14th of the Long March 2F, which is mainly tasked with serving China's manned space program.

Before this mission, all of Long March 2F's previous flights involved manned space missions – it sent six crewed and five unpiloted spaceships into low-Earth orbit, as well as two space labs.