China’s mission to the moon
Beijing has launched the third phase of its lunar
exploration program. The spacecraft was launched from the LC2 launch complex of
the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province at 1800UTC. The mission,
dubbed Chang’e-5-T1, is to head into Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO), before
performing a flyby around the Moon and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and
landing after a 9 day flight, , the State Administration of Science, Technology
and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said in a statement.
The mission will be used to test technology that will be
used in China’s unmanned 2017 mission to land on the moon to gather lunar
samples. China currently has a rover, the Jade Rabbit, on the surface of the
moon which was launched as part of the Chang'e-3 lunar mission late last year,
and has been declared a success by Chinese authorities. The military-run
project has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to
send a human to the moon.
Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a
marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well
as evidence of the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the
fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
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