China to launch its second heavy-lift carrier rocket tomorrow

The rocket will send Shijian-18 communication satellite into orbit

China will launch its second heavy- lift rocket tomorrow to put a satellite into orbit.

The Long March-5 Y2 would be launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in China's southern Hainan Province tomorrow, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence said today.

Propellant for the rocket, which will send the Shijian-18 communication satellite into orbit, began to be pumped in on this afternoon, it said.

After arriving at the launch base in early May, the rocket was assembled and tested there.

The Long March-5 made its maiden flight in November 2016 in Wenchang, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
 

In April, China launched its first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, into space using the country's heaviest Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket to dock with the orbiting experimental space station which was expected to be operationalised by 2022.

Tianzhou-1 was larger and heavier than Tiangong-2, which is 10.4 meters in length and has a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters, weighing 8.6 tonnes.