China on Saturday successfully blasted off its new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 from a new space launch center in Wenchang, Hainan province.

    Wang Hongyao, deputy chief commander of the mission, declared the launch a success minutes later. He said the rocket's payload separated from the rocket 603 seconds after blast-off, and entered an oval orbit with a low point, or perigee, of 200 kilometers, and a high point, or apogee, of 394 kilometers. 

    The re-entry module is expected to return to Earth on Sunday afternoon. The Long March-7 is a medium-sized, two-stage rocket that can carry up to 13.5 tonnes to low-Earth orbit. Experts say it will become the main carrier for China's future space missions. 

    Saturday's launch is the first by the Wenchang site, according to China's news agency (Xinhua) China is seeking to carry out a human landing on the moon by 2024 and sending a probe to Mars in 2021. 

Source : QNA