Sunday, September 12, 2010

Chang'e-2

China is planning to launch its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, later this year. Chang'e-1 was a solid success. China took a conservative approach flying to the Moon the first time, but plans a more direct route with the next one, planning to reach the Moon with Chang'e-2 in just five days. That, by the way, is still longer than the flight times of the Apollo lunar missions.

China plans another Chang'e mission, probably in 2013, and a lunar sample return mission aroud 2017.

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