Posted on 11/17/2020 7:01:39 PM PST by BenLurkin
The roughly 878-metric-ton heavy-lift Long March 5 was vertically transferred from an assembly building to its launch area late Monday Eastern in a process that took around two hours.
Launch of the 8.2-metric-ton Chang’e-5 spacecraft from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center is now expected Nov. 24 local time. State media reports have so far only confirmed the launch will take place in late November.
A successful mission would make China only the third country to deliver lunar samples to Earth, after the U.S. Apollo crewed program and Soviet robotic Luna missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Chang’e-5 landing will target a site close to Mons Rümker, a volcanic formation situated in the Oceanus Procellarum region of western edge of the near side of the moon.contains geological units as young as around 1.21 billion years old. The mission seeks to collect around 2 kilograms of samples by both drilling to a depth of up to two meters and scooping up surface material.
Chang’e-5 landing and sampling needs to take place within a single, roughly 14-Earth-day lunar daytime.
After sampling, a complex ascent, automated lunar orbit rendezvous and transfer of materials involving separate ascent and service modules will take place. The service module will then return to Earth followed by a high-velocity reentry into Earth’s atmosphere by a return capsule.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
Wenchang Launch Center?
Everybody wang Chung tonight!
The Long Duk Dong rocket?
I remember before the Clintons, they couldn’t get a missile off the ground.
These rockets are copies of old Soviet ones. They literally went to the Moscow archives and photocopied the technical drawings.
Wow!
Its gonna crash into mars cuz DWA (driving while asian).
"China rolls out Long March 5 rocket to launch Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission"
I wonder if something could happen to that vehicle somewhere...
Be a real pity if a rogue asteroid came out of nowhere to affect the thing
The Long Duk Dong rocket?
Batteries sold separately.
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