China to conduct the debut flight of Long March 5B carrier rocket

China will conduct the debut flight of its Long March 5B carrier rocket at 6 pm on Tuesday at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan province, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The major payload in the coming mission will be the prototype of China's new-generation manned spacecraft.

The Long March 5B is the first variant of the Long March 5, which conducted its third mission at the Wenchang center in December. It has one core stage and four boosters.

The rocket is 53.7 meters long, with a core-stage diameter of 5 meters. It is propelled by liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and kerosene and has a liftoff weight of about 849 tons.

The first Long March 5B was transported to the launch center in February by two rocket transportation ships – Yuanwang 21 and Yuanwang 22 – from the northern coastal municipality of Tianjin, home to the rocket's manufacturing complexes, and had been undergoing pre-launch preparations since then.