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From Science: China says it has launched a key satellite that will be crucial to the success of an unprecedented mission to the far side of the Moon later this year.

The relay satellite, called the Queqiao, was launched at 5:28 am local time on Monday, atop a Long March-4C rocket from a launch center in China’s southwest, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Queqiao means “Magpie Bridge,” and is named for a Chinese fable about how magpies form a bridge with their wings between the heavens and the Earth, allowing two ill-fated lovers to meet once a year.