China gets ready to launch Chang'e-5 mission with Long March-5 rocket

The Long March-5 rocket at the launching area of Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on November 17,2020./CCTV

The fifth Long March-5 rocket, with China's new lunar probe Chang's-5 on top, has been vertically transported to Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on Tuesday.

The Chang'e-5 mission, which will be one of China's most complicated and difficult space tasks by far, will be launched in late November, according to the China National Space Administration.

The Long March-5 rocket ready to be transferred to the launching area of Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on November 17,2020./CCTV

As China's sixth lunar mission, Chang'e-5 aims to collect and return around two kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to earth.

Space engineers have conducted a general assembly and tests on the rocket, after it was transported to Wenchang in late September.

It took about two hours to vertically transport the large rocket to the launching area of the center Tuesday morning. Final examinations and tests will be conducted on the rocket before the launch.

The Long March-5 rocket ready to be transferred to the launching area of Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on November 17,2020./CCTV

This is the second time the Long March-5 carrier rocket, currently China's largest launch vehicle, will be put into practical use. In July, it successfully sent China's first Mars probe Tianwen-1 into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit.