Long March-4C launches Queqiao (Chang'e-4 relay satellite/ 鹊桥)

Published on May 20, 2018

A Long March-4C launch vehicle launched Queqiao (鹊桥, “Magpie Bridge”), the relay satellite for the Chang'e-4 lunar mission, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China, on 20 May 2018, at 21:28 UTC (21 May, at 05:28 local time). Queqiao will be placed into a halo orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange point and will provide relay communications for the Chang'e-4 lunar mission (lander and rover), expected to be launched later this year to the Aitken Basin, in the south pole region of the Moon. Together with the relay satellite, two microsatellites, Longjiang-1 and Longjiang-2 were also be sent into orbit.