BEIJING, May 5. /TASS/. China successfully conducted the maiden launch of the trial version of the country’s new-generation manned spaceship on top of Long March 5B (Chang Zheng 5B) carrier rocket on Tuesday from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in southern China, the China Central Television said.

"According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, on May 5, 2020 at 18:00 (13:00 Moscow Time) from the Wenchang cosmodrome in China the launch of the Long March 5B carrier rocket with a trial version of a manned spacecraft of the new type and a prototype of a cargo return capsule was carried out," the report said.

"Some 488 seconds later, a prototype of the manned spaceship [with no crew] together with the trial version of the return capsule successfully separated from the rocket and reached its designated orbit. The mission was successful," the statement said.

The successful rocket launch laid a foundation for creating China’s orbital space station, which is expected to be completed by 2022. Chang Zheng 5B could be used for sending a basic module of the station to the low near-earth orbit.