China is seeking to push forward in its quest to build the first lunar base, launching an in-space experiment to test whether the base's bricks could be made from the moon's own soil.
A cargo rocket carrying brick samples blasted off late Friday for the Tiangong space station, part of Beijing's mission to put humans on the moon by 2030 and build a permanent base there by 2035.
"China launched the cargo craft Tianzhou-8 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Friday night to deliver supplies for its orbiting Tiangong space station," state news agency Xinhua said, citing China's space agency.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.