On June 25, China successfully launched its new Long March 7 rocket as well as a prototype, new-generation crew capsule.
The event is the first liftoff that took place in the new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. According to Chinese officials, the Long March 7 rocket lifted off at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
China's new rocket was developed as part of its plan to have a crewed space station — the world's second operational space station in orbit, which the country aims to put in operation by early 2020s.
The event tested both the Long March 7 rocket and the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, China's new launch pad located on Hainan Island. Apart from the tests, the unmanned liftoff carried with it a scaled-down prototype of the next-generation crew capsule.
After spending 20 hours in orbit on June 26, the prototype crew capsule completed a parachute-aided touchdown in the Badain Jaran Desert located in Inner Mongolian grasslands.
According to the Chinese Manned Space Engineering (CMSE), the Long March 7 has a height of 174 feet and weighs 658 tons.
"It is capable of sending 13.5 tons of payloads to low Earth orbit. Using new equipment such as the LOX/Kerosene engine, Long March 7 is a pollution-free launch vehicle and will boost China's space capabilities," said the CMSE.
Officials said that the rocket will play a vital part in the building of the second space station, which aims to be in operation by 2022. CMSE added that the Long March 7's first mission completed the set goals and "opened a new chapter in China's space lab project."
Chinese astronauts go into orbit using the Shenzhou capsules, which is a duplicate of Russian Soyuz. China is currently developing a new type of space capsule that is capable of accommodating larger crews and traveling further into space.
"It was designed to collect aerodynamic and heat data for a re-entry capsule, to verify key technologies such as detachable thermal protection structure and lightweight metal materials manufacturing, and to carry out blackout telecommunication tests," said the CMSE.
The scaled-down prototype was about half the size of the actual one, measuring approximately 7.5 feet in height and 8.5 feet in diameter. It had a total mass of 2.9 tons.
Its successful launch and recovery delivered a "solid foundation" for the space capsule's design and development.
