Shijian 17 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Long March 5 rocket lifts off on maiden flight

November 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

China debuted its new Long March 5 rocket Thursday with a successful nighttime blastoff on top of 2.4 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust from the country’s new Hainan Island spaceport.

China launches Long March 5, one of the world’s most powerful rockets

November 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket fired into space on a successful inaugural flight Thursday, debuting a brand new launcher that can carry twice the payload of any other Chinese booster and setting a keystone for the country’s ambitions for a space station and interplanetary exploration.

Long March 5 heavy-lifter ready to join China’s rocket inventory

November 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

China is ready to debut a heavy-lifting rocket rivaling the biggest boosters in the world Thursday, paving the way for a backlog of missions to loft massive space station modules, send deep space probes to the moon and Mars, and perhaps deploy commercial satellites.