A Long March-5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-5 spacecraft, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of Hainan. Pei said if the Chang'e-5 mission succeeds, China's current lunar exploration project would come to a successful conclusion. Named after Chinese legendary moon goddess Chang'e, China's current three-step lunar exploration program, which began in 2004, includes orbiting and landing on the moon, and bringing back samples. Through the program, China has acquired the basic technologies of unmanned lunar exploration with limited investment, said Pei. To pave the way for manned lunar exploration and deep space exploration, the Chang'e-5 mission will use a sampling method different to those of the United States and the Soviet Union, said Pei.

Source: The Standard November 24, 2020 08:15 UTC