China launched a large robotic spacecraft early Tuesday morning at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China"s Hainan province, tasking it with landing on the moon and bringing back lunar samples, 44 years after the last time such extraterrestrial substances were brought back to Earth.
A Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket, the biggest and mightiest launch vehicle in China, lifted its 20-story-tall body and soared skyward trailing a spectacular silver flame at 4:30 am from its launch pad, leaving many spectators inside and around the coastal Wenchang center in awe and excitement as the gigantic booster thundered skyward.
The rocket was tasked with placing the 8.2-metric ton Chang"e 5, which has four components — orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry capsule — in an Earth-moon transfer trajectory.
The heaviest and largest in the nation"s lunar probe fleet, Chang"e 5 will fly in the trajectory within the next several days and make some correction operations before conducting a key braking maneuver to avoid accidentally flying past the moon.
China launched a large robotic spacecraft early Tuesday morning at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China"s Hainan province, tasking it with landing on the moon and bringing back lunar samples, 44 years after the last time such extraterrestrial substances were brought back to Earth.
A Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket, the biggest and mightiest launch vehicle in China, lifted its 20-story-tall body and soared skyward trailing a spectacular silver flame at 4:30 am from its launch pad, leaving many spectators inside and around the coastal Wenchang center in awe and excitement as the gigantic booster thundered skyward.
The rocket was tasked with placing the 8.2-metric ton Chang"e 5, which has four components — orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry capsule — in an Earth-moon transfer trajectory.
The heaviest and largest in the nation"s lunar probe fleet, Chang"e 5 will fly in the trajectory within the next several days and make some correction operations before conducting a key braking maneuver to avoid accidentally flying past the moon.