China new rockets will have more than double current capacity

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The payload capacity of China’s Long March series of carrier rockets will be more than doubled from 9.5 tons to 25 tons in order to advance the country’s lunar exploration program.

China plans to spend seven or eight years developing a new-generation large carrier rocket, called “Long March V”, to be used for launching a space station, said Huang Chunping, former commander-in-chief of the launch vehicle system used by the country’s manned space mission and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).