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The third Long March-5 rocket, China's largest carrier rocket, blasted off from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province around 8:45 p.m. Friday evening BJ time. The rocket has successfully sent the Shijian-20, a large communications satellite, into a geostationary orbit.
Lifting off from China's only coastal launch site, this 57-meter-tall Long March-5 is by far the country's most capable carrier rocket in terms of payload capacity. After a 2,220 second flight, it has successfully sent the Shijian-20 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.
Shijian 20 satellite will test the DFH-5 satellite platform's function in space. /CGTN photo
Shijian 20 satellite will test the DFH-5 satellite platform's function in space. /CGTN photo
Wang Jue, chief commander of Long March-5 launch mission, told CGTN, "Generally speaking, they will take this successful launch as a new starting point. We need to keep improving the Long March-5 rocket's reliability and mission test capabilities. Further efforts and continuous improvements are needed."
Wang Jue, chief commander of Long March-5 launch mission, said the launch is key for China's future space exploration. /CGTN photo
Wang Jue, chief commander of Long March-5 launch mission, said the launch is key for China's future space exploration. /CGTN photo
After over 10 years of research and development, the first Long March-5 was launched in 2016. But the second launch in 2017 failed. Engineers have conducted a large number of ground tests and solved the technical problems.
Li Dong, chief designer of the Long March-5 rocket, told CGTN that they have verified and solved all the technical problems of the last Long March-5 rocket, which has cleared the obstacles for future space exploration. One major challenge is to make sure each Long March-5 rocket has a successful launch.
A space launch is a high risk project. No one can guarantee 100 percent success each time. But this success shows their over 900 days of preparation and efforts finally paid off.
The successful launch is expected to play a key role in China's future space exploration. In 2020, the Long March-5 is expected to launch China's first Mars probe and send Chang'e-5 lunar probe to the moon to return lunar samples back to Earth. Further modifications to the rocket will be used to construct China's space station.
Global media hail China's Long March-5 launch
Many global media outlets, including Forbes, SPUTNIK, SpaceNews and Space.com, also highlighted China's Long March-5 rocket launch and further introduced China's future space plans in the next year.
And many global space fans online have congratulated China on the successful launch. NB Niroula from Nepal said "the success of its kind technology is success of the Chinese People and their hard working." Bonnie Anderson said "I am literally jumping with joy, I feel like I am a rocket myself"
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