The Defense Intelligence Agency's unclassified 'Challenges to Security in Space 2026' report, released October 26, includes a photograph of China's reusable spaceplane in orbit — the first clear image ever published of the vehicle.

Taken in 2024 by a Maxar Technologies (now Vantor) satellite, the image shows a winged craft with open payload bay doors, a dark heat shield and a rear-mounted service module with deployed solar arrays.

Until now, only blurry ground-based images existed, and China has never released photos or design details of the spacecraft, which Western outlets often call Shenlong.

The image was captured by a commercial Earth-imaging satellite pointed at an object in space — non-Earth imaging — rather than by a government spy platform, showing how open-source imagery is narrowing the information gap around classified programs.

A lower-resolution version appeared in a 2024 Space Force presentation in South Korea, but the Pentagon withheld the full-resolution image until now.

Analysts note the vehicle closely resembles the US Space Force's Boeing-built X-37B, with delta wings, twin tail fins and a central cargo bay, though differences in wing geometry show the two are not externally identical.

Both launch inside a rocket fairing, operate as satellites, then glide to autonomous runway landings.

The X-37B has flown eight missions, one reaching above 24,000 miles, while China's craft has stayed in low Earth orbit across four missions since 2020, totaling more than 800 days, with the fourth launched February 7, 2026.

The photograph shows the spaceplane attached to a separate satellite with solar panels deployed, which Vantor has not identified. Payload bay doors appear open, possibly offering clues about the current mission.

The DIA assessed that the vehicle 'released and interacted with an object' during its third flight, and open-source tracking by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell shows the current mission released an object in June, recaptured it in July, then repeated the cycle in August and September — pointing to a possible robotic-arm capture or rendezvous capability.

The image appears inside a broader DIA warning about Chinese counterspace capabilities. The agency says China has multiple ground-based lasers able to disrupt, degrade or damage satellites in low Earth orbit, and may field space-based directed-energy systems by the late 2020s.

The report also cites anti-satellite missile tests, a 2025 satellite-refueling demonstration in geosynchronous orbit, robotic-arm tests and TJS satellites that approach foreign spacecraft — while noting the Space Force has acknowledged its own on-orbit weapons.

Key questions persist: the DIA identifies two Chinese spaceplane designs, Shenlong and Tengyun, but does not say which is pictured, and the name Shenlong itself is unofficial — Chinese state media use 'reusable experimental spacecraft.'

China's vehicle's size, payloads and mission objectives remain undisclosed, and the photo does not establish a weapons role. The spacecraft is still in orbit on its fourth mission, and as commercial non-Earth imaging matures, future flights are likely to be watched just as closely.