Enlarge / A Long March 8 rocket, standing 165 feet (50 meters) tall, rolled out of its assembly building to its launch pad Sunday at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. (credit: Luo Yunfei/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
The next phase of China's Moon program begins with the launch of a new data relay satellite Monday to link lunar landers and rovers on the far side of the Moon with ground controllers back on Earth.
This launch, set for approximately 8:31 pm EDT (00:31 UTC), will send China's Queqiao-2 relay spacecraft toward the Moon, where it will enter an elliptical orbit and position itself for the arrival of China's next robotic lunar lander, Chang'e 6, later this year.
A medium-lift Long March 8 rocket will carry the Queqiao-2 spacecraft aloft from the Wenchang launch base, located on Hainan Island in southern China. This will be the third flight of the kerosene-fueled Long March 8, one of a new generation of Chinese rockets designed to replace older Long March launcher designs burning toxic propellant.
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