The Chang'e 6 robotic probe, tasked with the world's first attempt to retrieve samples from the moon's far side, embarked on its historic journey on Friday from China's southernmost province of Hainan.▲A Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket, carrying the Chang'e 6 robotic lunar probe, blasts off on Friday from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province. SU DONG/FOR CHINA DAILYA Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket — the biggest and mightiest space vehicle in China, standing at 20 stories and weighing 870 metric tons — blasted off from its launch pad at 5:27 pm with the 8.35-ton Chang'e 6 spacecraft aboard and soared skyward, leaving hundreds of thousands of spectators awestruck at and around the coastal Wenchang Space Launch Center.The liftoff marked the beginning of the country's second lunar sample-return expedition after the successful Chang'e 5 mission in the winter of 2020.Yet the unfolding mission will be much more difficult, challenging and riveting than the Chang'e 5
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