BEIJING: China has successfully launched its own rocket that will be sent astronauts to the Moon.
China aims at completing the space station of the rocket by 2022. The Long March-5B carrier rocket took off at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan. It was the first mission carried out by the Long March-5B. With a length of about 53.7 metres, the Long March-5B carried an inflatable cargo return module.
The Long March-5B carrier rocket will help expand China’s aerospace activities, said Wang Xiaojun, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
If China managed to achieve the target, it will give an edge to Beijing on Washington, which has currently no spaceship since it retired the space shuttle in 2011. The US depends on Russian to sent astronauts to the International Space Station.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said that the experimental manned spacecraft with no crew, together with the test version of the cargo return capsule, about 488 seconds later, separated with the rocket and entered the planned orbit
The successful maiden flight verified the design of the rocket. A series of technological breakthroughs have been achieved such as the separation of the large fairing and the payloads in space and the precise control of the rocket to enter orbit directly with high thrust, laying the foundation for constructing China’s space station, CMSA said.
The next big mission for Beijing is to land a probe on Mars, with liftoff expected this year. China has since been racing to catch up with Russia and the United States to become a major space power by 2030.
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