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Showing posts with the label Chinese Long March 5 rocket

China's Chang'e-6 launches successfully — what happens next?

Scientists have high hopes for the first mission to collect rocks from the far side of the Moon.   A Chinese Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang’e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off in the rain at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan Island. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty) Today we hear that Chang’e-6 has successfully launched to the far side of the Moon, explore why grad students are going hungry on campus and read the letter that jump-started Alzheimer’s research.   China has successfully launched its historic Chang’e-6 mission. The 53-day odyssey will be the most complex and challenging Moon mission China has carried out. If all goes according to plan, scientists will be examining the first rocks from the Moon’s far side by late June.   The 7.2-metre-tall, eight-tonne spacecraft lifted off aboard a Long March 5 rocket on Friday afternoon local time, piercing through a tropical rainstorm from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan Island. ...