5 May 2020, 10:00 UTC
Maiden Flight
Maiden flight of the Long March 5B from Wenchang, carrying an uncrewed prototype of China's next-gen crewed spacecraft (later named Mengzhou) plus an experimental inflatable cargo-return capsule. The capsule prototype reentered successfully on 8 May, validating tech for China's space station program; the inflatable module malfunctioned on descent.
- Outcome
- Success
- Orbit
- LEO
- Low Earth orbit
- Payload to orbit
- 21.8 T
- Flight
- 1st
- of 4 Long March 5B flights
- Date and time
- 5 May 2020, 10:00 UTC
- Rocket
- Long March 5B
- Builder
- CASC
- Launch site
- 101, Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
- Payload
- Test Flight
- International designator
- 2020-027
- Launches in 2020
- 30th of 114
See it in orbit
Space Atlas shows the satellites and rocket stages from this launch in 3D.
Object pages on Space Atlas: CZ-5B R/B
View satellites in Space Atlas