China prepares to launch Long March-5 rocket for Chang'e-5 mission

The fifth Long March-5 rocket, to be used to launch China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe, was vertically transported to the launching area at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan province on Tuesday.

Photo taken on Nov. 17, 2020 shows the Long March-5 Y5 rocket at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

The carrier rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y5, is planned to be launched in late November, according to the China National Space Administration.

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 Tuesday morning. Final examinations and tests will be conducted on the rocket before the launch.

The Long March-5 carrier rocket, currently China's largest launch vehicle, successfully launched China's first Mars mission Tianwen-1 on July 23.

The Chang'e-5 mission aims to conduct unmanned lunar sample collection and return to Earth, one of the country's most complicated and challenging space missions. It will contribute to the scientific studies in fields such as the formation and evolution of the moon.