China Sends Country's Largest Carrier Rocket to Launch Base

Beijing sent on Friday its largest carrier rocket dubbed Long March-5 (Changzheng-5 in Chinese) to the country's southern province of Hainan, where the launch base is situated.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — Two rocket-carrying ships were expected to deliver the rocket to Qinglan Port in Wenchang in a week, the Shanghai daily reported.

The newspaper added that Long March-5 was planned to carry the lunar probe in 2017 and could be used to launch both Mars probes and Beijing's space station modules.

Long March 5 is China’s largest ever rocket. It is developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).