Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: CGTN

China’s Long March-5 Y2 carrier rocket is being readied for a Sunday launch at Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province. The process of filling propellant into the booster’s fuel tanks began on Saturday afternoon.

The powerful rocket is to hurl into geosynchronous orbit the Shijian-18 communication satellite, China’s largest spacecraft, for a series of on-orbit tests.

Future plans

This is the second flight of this class of rocket, a central piece of China’s space station and deep space exploration plans. The Long March-5 Y2 is on tap to launch the Chang’e-5 moon probe this November, a robotic sample return mission.

The maiden flight of this booster from Wenchang took place on November 3, 2016.

To view a CCTV-Plus video of launch preparations, go to:

http://www.cctvplus.com/archive/20170701/8054605.shtml

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