Amid the coronavirus pandemic, China on Tuesday successfully test-fired the Long March 5B rocket which took off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island of Hainan.
The rocket is capable of operating a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon, according to the country’s Xinhua news agency.
Yang Qing, designer of the spaceship with the China Academy of Space Technology told the Xinhua news agency that “the mission will test the key technologies of the new manned spaceship such as the control of its re-entry into the atmosphere, heat shielding and recovery technology.”
The United States is so far the only country to have been able to send humans to the Moon.
But Beijing has made huge strides in its effort catch up to the US space program, sending astronauts into space, satellites into orbit and a rover on the far side of the Moon.
A successful maiden flight of the 54-meter Long March 5B would reassure China, following failures of the 7A model in March and 3B model in April.
