China spacecraft Chang'e-5 lands on moon to bring rocks back to Earth

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

China spacecraft lands on moon to bring rocks back to Earth

By JOE McDONALD
December 1, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon to bring back lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government announced.

The China National Space Administration said Chang’e 5 “successfully landed” at its designated site shortly after 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) Tuesday after making a powered descent from its orbiter. It published images of the barren scene at the landing site, including where the lander’s shadow can be seen.

The lander was launched Nov. 24 from the tropical southern island of Hainan. It is the latest venture by a Chinese space program that sent its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, has a spacecraft en route to Mars and aims eventually to land a human on the moon.

Plans call for the lander to spend about two days drilling into the lunar surface and collecting 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rocks and debris. The sample will be lifted up into orbit and transferred to a return capsule for the trip to Earth, setting down on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia around the middle of the month.

If it succeeds, it will be the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since a Soviet probe in the 1970s. Those samples are expected to be made available to scientists from other nations, although its unclear how much access NASA will have, given tight U.S. government restrictions on space cooperation with China.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/international-news-china-moon-92f757e0974a0738c71ef2260c7d5795


In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a screen shows the landed Chang'e-5 spacecraft and a moon surface picture, below, taken by camera aboard Chang'e-5 spacecraft during its landing process, at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. A Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon Tuesday to bring back lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government announced. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP)

[Arne]

1. Osirus Rex was also a brilliant rock scooping mission

but it's three years for the return trip.
Those samples are thought to be from
the early universe.

[brush]

2. I haven't seen this reported by the MSM. I'm first seeing this on DU. Ignoring China is not in...

our interest.