China's newly developed Long March-5B heavy carrier rocket arrived at the Wenchang Satellite launch Center on Wednesday, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).
It took about a week to transport the rocket to its destination on the earth.
The Long March-5B carrier rocket will be mainly used for China's space station mission, which will begin in 2020. The module is based on the Long March-5 carrier rocket but with improvements to fit the mission requirements, such as a new large-scale fairing, which is over 20 meters long and five meters in diameter.
China's Yuanwang ship carries the carrier rocket container to port of Wenchang in south China's Hainan Province. /CGTN Photo
The Yuanwang ship which carries the carrier rocket container to the port of Wenchang in south China's Hainan Province. /CGTN Photo
The carrier rocket is about 53.7 meters long, the core part is five meters in diameter and bundled with four boosters each 3.35 meters in diameter. It uses non-toxic non-polluting liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and kerosene as propellant. The rocket has a take-off weight of 849 tons, with a carrying capacity of at least 22 tons for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
After arriving at the launch center, the rocket will go through a series of ground tests. The main purpose is to test the launch process. The Long March-5B rocket is scheduled to launch in mid-to-late April, carrying a new generation of manned spacecraft test ship.