Roaring rocket lifts satellite into space

With more than 750 tons of propellant, each Long March 5 has a liftoff weight of 869 tons and a payload capacity about 2.5 times greater than any other Chinese rocket. It ranks third among the world's most powerful rockets, following the United States' Falcon Heavy and Delta IV Heavy.

The craft is capable of ferrying spacecraft weighing up to 25 tons－roughly the combined weight of 16 midsize cars－to a low-Earth orbit, or 14 tons to a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

For coming missions, it is capable of transporting an 8-ton probe to an Earth-moon transfer orbit or a 5-ton probe to an Earth-Mars transfer orbit.

The concept of the Long March 5 initially came from Chinese rocket scientists in 1986. After 20 years of technological preparations, the rocket's research and development program was approved and officially begun in 2006 at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, a subsidiary of State-owned space conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

Wang Xiaojun, president of the academy, said the Long March 5 has substantially improved the country's spacefaring capability and laid a solid foundation for the research and development of future rockets that will be even bigger and mightier.