China Plans to Launch Lunar Exploration Mission in Late November, Space Company Says

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BEIJING (Sputnik) - China is planning to launch its Chang'e 5 lunar exploration mission in late November, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said on Tuesday.

"This is currently one of our country's most complicated and multifaceted space missions," CASC noted.

The launch has been rescheduled several times. The mission failed to launch in 2017 and was rescheduled to take place in 2018, but was postponed to July 2019, and then to late 2019 only to be postponed once again.

If everything goes as planned, Chang'e 5 will gather samples of the moon's soil and bring them back to Earth.

The mission will be launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier from the Wenchang launch site in the Hainan province. According to CASC, the rocket has been delivered by sea to the Wenchang city in late September, after which specialists performed a series of preparations and necessary tests.

Earlier in the day, the launch vehicle was delivered to the space port's launch pad.

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