State-run media reported Friday that China will launch a second lunar probe next October.

According to China Daily, the probe named Chang’e-2 will orbit 100 km closer to the moon than the nation’s first probe that launched in 2007.

In March, that unmanned probe–Chang-e-1–hit the moon in a controlled crash after a 16-month mission.

China Daily also reported that Chang’e-2 is part of the second phase of China’s ambitious lunar exploration program. The country also plans to send a spacecraft to collect samples on the moon in the third phase, scheduled for 2017.

This decade, the country’s space program has made significant steps.

China became the third nation in 2003, after the United States and Russia, to put a person in orbit. That year, Yang Liwei was celebrated as a national hero when he became the first Chinese in space.

(article source: CNN, photo source: Xinhua)