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VShina prepares to launch her lunar sample return mission, Chang’e-5. On Tuesday, the 57-meter-long March-5 rocket was deployed at the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in southern China’s Hainan Province.
This will be the fifth launch of the Long March-5. According to China’s National Space Administration, the ignition is expected to take place at the end of November. The Chang’e-5 was originally slated to launch in 2017, but the failure of the second flight of the Long March 5 delayed the schedule as a rocket motor was redesigned.
Chang’e-5 is a complex mission. A service module will remain in orbit while a lander descends on the volcanic site of Mons Rümker, in the region of Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar side. The lander will robotically collect around 2 kg of lunar material, which it will launch into lunar orbit to join the service module. It will then come back to Earth.
The footage is reminiscent of a crewed mission and could be a test of software and systems that China will use for future human landings.
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