Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: CCTV Plus/Inside Outer Space screengrab

China’s Chang’e-5 sample return mission to the Moon moved closer to launch with the rollout to the pad of its Long March-5 booster.

On Tuesday, the launcher was vertically transported to the launch area at Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province.

Credit: CCTV Plus/Inside Outer Space screengrab

The carrier rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y5, is planned to be launched in late November, according to the China National Space Administration.

The Chang’e-5 mission will robotically gather lunar samples and return them to Earth.

The Long March-5 carrier rocket, currently China’s largest launch vehicle, successfully launched China’s first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, on July 23.