China launched a probe on Friday to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a world first as Beijing pushes ahead with an ambitious program that aims to send a crewed lunar mission by 2030.
A rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 lunar probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province just before 5:30 pm (0930 GMT), AFP journalists near the site said.
Heavy rain engulfed the site just minutes before the launch began, they said, with hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby to witness the latest leap for China's decades-long space program.
Washington has warned that the program is being used to mask military objectives and an effort to establish dominance in space.
The Chang'e-6 aims to collect around two kilograms of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth for analysis.
State news agency Xinhua hailed it as "the first endeavor of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration".
It is a technically complex 53-day mission that will also see it attempt an unprecedented launch from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.
"The whole mission is fraught with numerous challenges, with each step interconnected and nerve-wracking," Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, told Xinhua.
The probe is set to land in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.
Once there, it will scoop up lunar soil and rocks, and carry out other experiments in the landing zone.
It must then lift off from the Moon's surface and retrace its steps back home.
