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The fifth Long March-5 rocket, with China’s new Chang’e-5 moon probe on top, was transported vertically to the Wenchang space launch center in southern China’s Hainan province.
The Chang’e-5 mission, which will be by far one of China’s most complicated and difficult space tasks, will be launched in late November, according to the China National Space Administration.
As China’s sixth lunar mission, Chang’e-5 aims to collect and return about two kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples to earth.
Space engineers conducted a general assembly and tests on the rocket, after it was flown to Wenchang in late September.
On Tuesday morning, it took about two hours to transport the large rocket vertically to the downtown launch area. Final examinations and tests will be conducted on the rocket before launch.
This is the second time that the Long March-5 carrier rocket, currently China’s largest launch vehicle, will be put into practice. In July, it successfully sent China’s first Mars probe Tianwen-1 into Earth-Mars transfer orbit.
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