China tests rocket to use for planned space station

China launched a rocket Tuesday in a trial run for a manned space flight program, Beijing officials announced.

The flight of the Long March-5B carrier rocket is the third step of a program that will include a space station, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement.

“The white large rocket blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of southern China's island province of Hainan at 6 p.m. (Beijing Time),” the agency said. "About 488 seconds later, the experimental manned spacecraft with no crew, together with the test version of the cargo return capsule, separated with the rocket and entered the planned orbit."

Designed to be used for China's manned space program, the Long March-5B mainly will launch modules for a future space station, the agency said.

In March, another rocket in the Long March series crashed while attempting to send a classified satellite into orbit. In April, yet another fell while carrying an Indonesian commercial satellite. 

“All personnel participating in the [Tuesday] mission had overcome tremendous difficulties caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic, and the challenges and pressure brought by the recent failures of the Long March-7A and Long March-3B rockets,” the agency said.

Beijing has not reported the status of its “Wuhan” communications satellite that was set to be launched in April.