The third Long March-5 rocket, China's largest carrier rocket, was vertically transported to the launching area at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on Saturday.

The carrier rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y3, is planned to be launched at the end of December. Space engineers have conducted a general assembly and tests on the rocket after it was transported to Wenchang at the end of October.

The Long March-5 rocket successfully made its maiden flight on November 3, 2016.

But the second flight for the Long March-5 heavy-lift carrier rocket, China’s largest launcher, failed on July 2, 2017.

The rocket started to malfunction shortly after taking off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province.

The upcoming flight of the Long March-5 rocket is regarded as a highlight of China's space sector this year. If the flight is successful, the carrier rocket will be tasked with launching China's first Mars probe and sending the Chang'e-5 lunar probe to the moon to bring lunar samples back to Earth.