Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China - May 29, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of Long March-3B Y110 rocket carrying Tianwen-2 probe blasting off
2. Zhang Runhong, staffer at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, counting down
3. Various of Long March-3B Y110 rocket carrying Tianwen-2 probe blasting off, ascending
4. Screen showing Tianwen-2 probe operating in space
5. Engineers posing for photo
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Runhong, staffer, Xichang Satellite Launch Center (starting with shot 5/ending with shot 7):
"As always, I'm very happy. I think our Tianwen-2 probe is a major project. It's like a relay race, and I've successfully completed my leg. I hope the subsequent stages, such as exploration, sampling, and return, will all be successful."
7. Various of engineers posing for photo
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Chen Minkang, engineer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (ending with shot 9):
"For the Tianwen-2 mission, I think it's quite extraordinary. This should be a landmark launch mission, so I'm quite proud of it."
9. Long March-3B Y110 rocket carrying Tianwen-2 probe blasting off, ascending

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Animations showing Tianwen-2 probe operating in space

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China - May 29, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Han Siyuan, deputy director, Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center (ending with shot 12):
"The implementation of Tianwen-2 mission is highly challenging, with a long duration and high risks. The launch on Thursday was a complete success , but this is only the first step of our long journey. We have carried a total of 11 scientific payloads, and we hope to bring more breakthroughs and discoveries to our understanding of the origin and evolution of related small celestial bodies."
12. Various of engineers posing for photo

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. Animations showing Tianwen-2 probe operating in space

China successfully launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, on Thursday early morning via a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, which marks a significant step in China's new journey of interplanetary exploration.

After a flight of around 18 minutes, the probe extended its solar panels and entered its predetermined orbit smoothly.

"As always, I'm very happy. I think our Tianwen-2 probe is a major project. It's like a relay race, and I've successfully completed my leg. I hope the subsequent stages, such as exploration, sampling, and return, will all be successful," said Zhang Runhong, a staffer at Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

"For the Tianwen-2 mission, I think it's quite extraordinary. This should be a landmark launch mission, so I'm quite proud of it," said Chen Minkang, an engineer at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The Tianwen-2 mission aims to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P, which is more distant than Mars.

"The implementation of Tianwen-2 mission is highly challenging, with a long duration and high risks. The launch on Thursday was a complete success , but this is only the first step of our long journey. We have carried a total of 11 scientific payloads, and we hope to bring more breakthroughs and discoveries to our understanding of the origin and evolution of related small celestial bodies," said Han Siyuan, deputy director of the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and spokesperson for the Tianwen-2 mission.

Known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, asteroid 2016HO3 orbits the Sun and appears to circle around Earth as well, remaining a constant companion to our planet.

Dubbed as "cosmic fossils," asteroids preserve critical information about the solar system's infancy.

The second target, 311P, a celestial anomaly discovered in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, occasionally spews out materials and resembles a comet with tails.

Scientifically, the mission focuses on measuring physical parameters of the two celestial targets, including their orbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal properties.

The mission will also investigate the topography, composition and internal structure of the two celestial bodies, and possibly study the materials ejected by the main-belt comet, Han said.

After launch, the spacecraft will journey for about one year to reach its first target, during which it will perform deep-space maneuvers and mid-course corrections until it is about 30,000 km away from 2016HO3.

The probe will gradually approach the target, carrying out close exploration by circling and hovering over the asteroid to determine the sampling area, with a strategy of flying and probing simultaneously.

After completing the sampling, the spacecraft will fly back to the vicinity of Earth. A return capsule will separate from the main probe and is expected to deliver the samples to Earth by the end of 2027.

The main probe will then continue its voyage to rendezvous with the more distant target, the main-belt comet 311P, to carry out subsequent exploration tasks.