robe prepares to land on moon

“嫦五”将择机月面软着陆

China's Chang'e-5 probe is preparing for a soft landing on the moon to undertake the country's first collection of samples from an extraterrestrial body.

我国的嫦娥五号探测器将择机实施月面软着陆，开展我国首个地外天体采样任务。

The lander-ascender combination of the spacecraft¹ separated from its orbiter-returner combination at 4:40 am Monday, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

来自国家航天局的消息，11月30日4时40分，嫦娥五号探测器着陆器和上升器组合体与轨道器和返回器组合体顺利分离。

The spacecraft is performing well and communication with ground control is normal, CNSA said.

截至目前，探测器各系统状态良好，地面测控通信正常。

The lander-ascender combination will execute a soft landing on the moon and engage in automatic sampling. The orbiter-returner will continue orbiting about 200 km above the lunar surface and wait for rendezvous² and docking with the ascender.

轨道器和返回器组合体将继续在平均高度约200公里的环月轨道上飞行并等待上升器交会对接，着陆器和上升器组合体将择机实施月面软着陆，进行自动采样等后续工作。

Launched on Nov 24, Chang'e-5 is one of the most complicated and challenging missions in China's aerospace³ history, as well as the world's first moon-sample mission in more than 40 years.

嫦娥五号11月24日发射升空，是我国航天史上最为复杂、挑战最大的任务之一，也是40多年来世界首个月球采样返回任务。