Published on November 24, 2020
Congratulations to China National Space Administration (CNSA) for the successful launch of Chang'e 5!
China has launched a robotic spacecraft to bring back rocks from the moon – the first such attempt by any country since the 1970s.
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is pleased to congratulate the start of a promising mission!
The Long March-5, China’s largest carrier rocket, blasted off at 4.30am Beijing time on Tuesday 24 November 2020 from Wenchang space launch centre on the island of Hainan carrying the Chang’e-5 spacecraft.
The mission aims to collect the youngest samples so far obtained from the moon and later land in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, around Dec. 15-16. Samples will then be transferred to specially developed facilities for handling, analyzing and storing the lunar material.
