China successfully launches Long March-5 heavy-lift carrier rocket

World Today

China has successfully launched its new generation heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-5.

The launch took place at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island. The rocket is expected to become the main carrier for China’s space stations, and its lunar and Mars missions.

CCTV’s Ge Yunfei witnessed the launch and has this report.

The Long March 5 carrier rocket blasted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in South China’s Hainan Province.

The whole world is watching China’s widest, biggest and most powerful rocket making its maiden launch into space. Propelled with a combination of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, this 800-ton giant will enter low-earth orbit in about 30 minutes.

It’s capable of carrying payloads of 25 tons into low-earth orbit, three times greater than previous rockets.

Watch the full rocket launch

Forty minutes after the launch, the chief commander announced it was a success.

Before China, only the U.S. and Europe had the ability to send such heavy hardware into space. But this launch officially makes China the third.

“We have just witnessed ten engines firing at the same time. A spectacular launch of our country’s new generation rocket the Long March-5, with a bigger thrust than any other Chinese rockets,” Tian Yulong, secretary-general of China National Space Administration said. 

Launching this new generation rocket, with hundreds of advanced technologies, was quite a difficult assignment. However, its success meant the world to the engineers and experts who toiled to get it right. 

As the field commander Hu Xudong said, “Our Long March Five has proven itself, China’s aerospace industry has proven itself, and I feel very, very proud.”

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(Photos courtesy: Xinhua News.)