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<\/p>\nThe Chang\u2019e 5 lunar orbiter, lander, and sample collection return vehicle left its sea-side launch pad at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan province, People\u2019s Republic of China to begin its journey to the moon right on time at 20:30:12 UTC (15:30:12 EST) on 23 November.<\/p>\n
The mission launched on a Chang Zheng 5 heavy lift vehicle at the opening of a 50 minute launch window. The launch successfully sent its lunar payload on a 6 day journey to our closest celestial neighbor.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Chang\u2019e 5 mission, named after the Chinese goddess of the Moon, is the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s first-ever sample return mission and the first to be attempted by any agency or company globally since the 1976 Luna 24 flight by the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
If successful, Chang\u2019e 5 would make China the third country to return lunar samples to Earth after the United States and the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
The launch vehicle tasked with beginning Chang\u2019e 5\u2019s journey to Earth\u2019s natural satellite was the Chang Zheng 5. It is the most powerful Chinese rocket in operation and the third most powerful launcher in the world after the Falcon Heavy and Delta IV Heavy vehicles.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e 5 marked the sixth flight of the Chang Zheng 5 family, including a single flight of the 5B variant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chang Zheng 5 launches its fifth flight, carrying the Tianwen-1 Mars mission \u2013 via Xinhua<\/p>\n
The initial phase of flight were powered by a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fueled first stage, under thrust from two YF-77 engines as well as four RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen fueled boosters with two YF-100 engines each.<\/p>\n
Spaceflight news subscription (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The boosters separated less than three minutes after liftoff, while the first stage continued to burn for upwards of eight minutes.<\/p>\n The liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen second stage took over, powered by a pair of YF-75D engines. This stage was responsible for carrying the Chang\u2019e 5 spacecraft to its initial parking orbit.<\/p>\n That parking orbit, based on mission specific information released by China and navigational warnings issued by the People\u2019s Republic of China, was inclined 23.5 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n The ground track of the launch carried the rocket over The Philippines \u2014 with side booster and payload fairing drops zones flanking the large, northern island of Luzon.<\/p>\n However, the core stage has a drop zone that encompasses several populated islands of the Federated States of Micronesia.<\/p>\n This follows a pattern of China\u2019s continued launch over populated areas (though in this case, the nation is launching mainly over water) and several recently high-profile incidents of highly toxic and uncontrolled rocket stages crashing into villages and barely missing heavily traffic bridges.<\/p>\n The trajectory of this mission meant that a failure after booster separation but before payload fairing separation would result in debris coming down over The Philippines. Thankfully, that did not happen.<\/p>\nSee Also<\/h4>\n
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