Video taking off 32x its usual first day

Scott Manley examines China's secret spaceplane in an orbital image

A satellite photograph gives Manley a clearer look at Shenlong, from its wing geometry to its resemblance to America's X-37B.

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Scott Manley Story of October 28, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 704,892 views a day, 32 times a normal first day on this channel (21,814).

China's Super Secret Spaceplane Finally Revealed

Discarded rocket hardware had already offered clues about the wings. Now Scott Manley has an image of the spacecraft itself, photographed in orbit by a Maxar satellite and featured in a US government report.

His Short, "China's Super Secret Spaceplane Finally Revealed", passed 400,000 views in ten hours, far beyond his usual first-day audience for the format. The comment section was also already much busier than a typical full first day.

Manley starts with the photograph, then works backward through the evidence. He explains that Shenlong launches aboard a Long March 2F/T rocket, with pictures of the vehicle tightly restricted in China. Footage of fallen payload-fairing debris had provided another way to investigate: cutouts and compartments in the protective rocket shell offered clues to the shape of the spacecraft tucked inside.

The orbital image lets him pick out more details, including its angled tail surfaces, service module, solar array and cargo bay door. He compares its size and geometry with the American X-37B, a spaceplane used to test military payloads.

That resemblance dominates much of the viewer discussion, but Manley's explanation is more precise than a simple declaration that the vehicles are identical. He describes Shenlong as following the X-37B's design mold while stopping short of calling it an exact copy.

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