Construction of China’s manned space station has moved a step closer with the successful maiden flight of its carrier rocket, the Long March-5B.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has confirmed the maiden launch and said:

“With the largest payload capacity of China’s current carrier rockets, the Long March-5B enables the launch of large spacecraft. For instance, each module of China’s space station will be over 20 tonnes, and can only be carried into space by the new rocket.

The research team spent almost 10 years developing the new rocket, making breakthroughs in a series of key technologies, said the rocket’s chief designer Li Dong.”

The Long March 5B is pictured right and it carried a trial version of China’s manned spaceship and a cargo return capsule ready for tests in space.

CASC continues:

“The Long March-5B has the largest fairing of China’s carrier rockets, specially designed to carry the space station modules. A rotary separation scheme ensures the fairing can separate from the payloads safely in space. To meet the requirements of rendezvous and docking of the modules, the Long March-5B rocket needs to be launched within a “zero window”, which means its launch time error should be less than a second.

“With only one core stage and four boosters, the Long March-5B has a simpler structure and higher reliability than multi-stage rockets. However, it is required to send payloads directly into orbit, which is like a high-speed train suddenly braking and stopping stably at a designated position.”

The rocket launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center located on Hainan island east of Vietnam.

The state-owned CASC is the main contractor for China’s space programme.