China's new Long March-6A carrier rocket completes maiden flight

China has made exciting accomplishments. China's first hybrid carrier rocket, the Long March-6A, blasted off at 5:50 p.m. Beijing Time on Tuesday with 2 satellites on board from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province. It has certainly become part of China's new generation of carrier rockets.

In World News, China's new modified Long March-6 carrier rocket completes maiden flight successfully.

In the large country of China, a modified version of the Long March-6 carrier rocket made its maiden flight on Tuesday, successfully sending two satellites into orbit.

The rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, and is the country's certainly first carrier rocket type to be equipped with solid strap-on boosters.

1 of the 2 satellites launched by the rocket will carry out scientific tests and research, including a land and resources survey, while the other will carry out tests to verify space environment detection technology.

The latest launch was the 412th mission of the so-called Long March rocket series.

China's new Long March-6A carrier rocket completes maiden flight.

Congratulations for the success, indeed.

Hope it will also run smooth when they send the two experimental modules to the space station.

The so-called "maiden flight", also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets.

The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is always certainly a historic occasion. In the early days of aviation it could be dangerous, because the exact handling characteristics of the aircraft were really generally unknown. The maiden flight of a new type is almost invariably flown by a highly experienced test pilot. Maiden flights are usually accompanied by a chase plane, to verify items like altitude, airspeed, and general airworthiness.

A maiden flight is only 1 stage in the important development of an aircraft type. Unless the type is a pure research aircraft (such as the X-15), the aircraft must be tested extensively to ensure that it delivers the desired performance with an acceptable margin of important safety. In the case of civilian aircraft, a new type must be certified by a governing agency (such as the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States) before it can really enter operation.