(CNN) China successfully launched its Chang'e-5 lunar mission Tuesday to collect rocks from the moon -- the first attempt by any country since the 1970s. The unmanned Chang'e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, near the country's southern tip, in the early morning. Last year, China became the first country to send an unmanned rover to the far side of the moon. Plans are also underway to launch a permanent space station by 2022, and send astronauts to the moon by the 2030s. If successful, China would become only the second country, after the US, to put a citizen on the moon.

Source: CNN November 24, 2020 04:52 UTC