China claims the successful launch of a key new space rocket

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 06 Jan 2023

BEIJING - China on Tuesday successfully launched a new rocket and prototype spacecraft, state media said, in a major test of the country’s ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.

The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan and eight minutes later an unmanned prototype spaceship successfully separated and entered its planned orbit, according to the Xinhua news agency.

A test version of a cargo return capsule also successfully separated from the rocket, Xinhua added. The spaceship will one day transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to complete by 2022 -- and eventually to the Moon.

It will have capacity for a crew of six. The mission will test its "key technologies", including the control of its re-entry into the atmosphere, its heat shielding and recovery technology, Yang Qing of the China Academy of Space Technology and designer of the spaceship was quoted as saying by Xinhua in March.

The United States is so far the only country to have successfully sent humans to the Moon.

But Beijing has made huge strides in its effort to catch up, sending astronauts into space, satellites into orbit and a rover to the far side of the Moon.