President Xi Jinping has prioritised advancing China’s space programme to strengthen national security and defence, and the government has stressed it is a purely peaceful initiative. The Long March-5 Y2 rocket takes off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China. (Reuters)“An anomaly occurred during the flight of the rocket,” Xinhua said after the rocket blasted off early evening from the southern island province of Hainan. China’s space programme has largely operated without many major hitches, though it still has a way to go to catch up with the United States and Russia. In 2003, it became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Source: Hindustan Times July 02, 2017 13:52 UTC