Second launch of China’s Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket set for Sunday

China’s Long March 5 rocket is counting down to liftoff Sunday from the country’s tropical island space center with a high-power, electrically-propelled communications satellite. The heavy-lifter is scheduled to blast off from the Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island at around 1120 GMT (7:20 a.m. EDT; 7:20 p.m. Beijing time) Sunday, heading for an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit with the Shijian 18 communications satellite, the first in a new series of modern Chinese high-capacity relay stations. Sunday’s launch will be the second flight of a Long March 5 rocket, China’s most powerful launcher, which made a successful maiden mission in November 2016. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 2)