Beijing, Nov 23: China said on Monday that it will launch its first unmanned space mission on Tuesday to collect samples from the moon’s surface and return to earth, which its scientists say is one of the country’s most complicated and challenging space missions.
China National Space Administration (CNSA) said that the fuelling of the Long March-5 rocket, currently China’s largest launch vehicle, began on Monday ahead of the launch on early Tuesday.
The rocket, which will send the Chang’e-5 spacecraft to Earth-moon transfer orbit, is scheduled to be launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province in the early hours on Tuesday.
The mission is the country’s first attempt to launch a spacecraft to collect and return samples from the moon, the CNSA said.
The Chang’e-5 mission aims to conduct unmanned lunar sample collection and return to Earth, one of the country’s most complicated and challenging space missions, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
It will contribute to the scientific studies in fields such as the formation and evolution of the moon, it said. China’s lunar exploration program is named after the legendary Chang’e, the “Moon Lady,” who took a potion and floated into the sky, eventually landing on the moon, where she became a goddess accompanied by a jade rabbit.
A major space power, China launched its first Mars mission ‘Tianwen-1′ on July 23 this year. (PTI)
China to launch its first spacecraft to moon to collect samples, return to earth
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