China's Chang'e-5 probe prepares to land on moon
BEIJING -- China's Chang'e-5 probe is preparing for a soft landing on the moon to undertake the country's first collection of samples from an extraterrestrial body.
The lander-ascender combination of the spacecraft separated from its orbiter-returner combination at 4:40 am Monday (Beijing Time), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Launched on Nov 24, Chang'e-5 is one of the most complicated and challenging missions in China's aerospace history, as well as the world's first moon-sample mission for more than 40 years.
The spacecraft is performing well and communication with ground control is normal, CNSA said.
The lander-ascender combination will execute a soft landing on the moon and carry out automatic sampling. The orbiter-returner will continue orbiting about 200 km above the lunar surface and wait for rendezvous and docking with the ascender.
- China's premier ice-and-snow destinations poised for winter tourism frenzy
- Jiangsu professor investigated for academic fraud, misappropriation of funds
- Xi's discourses on improving Party conduct published in ethnic-minority languages
- China-Europe youths look toward a shared future
- China releases latest findings from second Qinghai-Tibet Plateau scientific expedition
- Mainland spokesperson rebukes Japanese PM's provocative Taiwan-related remarks
