Next lunar mission's details released

Chang'e 5 tasked with retrieving soil from moon, completing program's third phase

China plans to send its Chang'e 5 probe to the moon around the end of the year and bring lunar samples back to Earth, a senior space official said.

Wu Yanhua, deputy head of China National Space Administration, said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday afternoon that the Chang'e 5 mission will be the next step in China's lunar exploration and will mark the completion of the program's third phase, whose goal is guiding a probe carrying lunar soil back to Earth.