Posted on 06/27/2016 5:10:57 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The Long March 7 rocket — which China developed in part to help build and service a crewed space station that the nation plans to have up and running by the early 2020s — blasted off on its maiden flight from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 8 a.m. EDT Saturday (1200 GMT; 8 p.m. local time), Chinese officials said.
The uncrewed liftoff aimed to test both the new rocket and the launch facility, which is located on the island of Hainan, off China's southern coast. But there were other objectives as well; the Long March 7 also carried a scaled-down version of a future crew capsule, a satellite-deploying upper stage, and technology demonstrations in space-junk cleanup, satellite refueling and other fields, Chinese officials have said.
The powerful Long March 7 stands 174 feet (53 meters) tall and weighs 658 tons (597 metric tons) at liftoff, according to the Chinese MannedSpace Engineering (CMSE) office.
"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," CMSE officials wrote in an update after Saturday's launch.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
One man's space-junk is another man's national security.
Bingo! Sir, we’ve lost contact with NROs #1-6!
Polloot free,eh?
We,ll see
“Look...its an enormous Wanson”
The Bill Clinton special
If only they had a free media that could scream “Why are we spending that money in space when we have so many needs here! (like spending it on the products our advertisers pay us to sell...)”
I hate our greedy lying media.
Versus a 150 ton payload for a Saturn V.
using technology sold to them by the Clinton Crime Syndicate.
Burning kerosene is pollution free?
PLA Approved, I’m sure TheChicom àpprove too
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