China tests new carrier rocket

BEIJING - Chinese scientists on Friday successfully tested the power system of a Long March-5 carrier rocket scheduled for flight in 2016.

Development of the rocket, the fifth-generation launch vehicle of the Long March family, has entered a "runoff" phase, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The rocket will have a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low Earth orbits, or 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit, about twice the current capacity. The would-be capacity will be equivalent to that of mainstream rocket carriers now in use around the world.

The rocket will serve the final chapter of China's three-step -- orbiting, landing and returning -- lunar program and the building of manned space stations.

The Long March rocket family has completed more than 200 missions since 1970, when a Long March-1 rocket sent China's first satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1, or "the East is Red", into Earth orbit.