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After an unmanned Chinese lunar mission, the capsule of the “Chang’e 5” spacecraft landed with two kilograms of lunar rock in the Inner Mongolia steppe in the north of the country. State television reported Thursday night local time (Wednesday CET).
It is the first time in more than 40 years that lunar rocks have returned to Earth. After the United States and the Soviet Union, China is the third space travel nation to have brought lunar samples to Earth.
Rescue teams with helicopters and vehicles equipped with powerful searchlights set out to find the capsule on the Siziwang banner in Inner Mongolia. The search is made more difficult by the dark nights and the harsh winter weather with snow, wind and temperatures of more than 20 degrees below zero. The capsule is only one-seventh the size of Chinese manned spacecraft.
Docking maneuvers without astronauts
The mission to the moon is seen as an important step in China’s ambitious space program. It was considered “one of the most difficult in China’s space history”, as it was officially called. “Chang’e 5” consisted of a lander and an ascent module, as well as an orbiter and the return capsule.
As the first nation in space travel, China was able to perform a robot-controlled docking maneuver without astronauts in Earth’s satellite orbit when the ascending module reconnected to the orbiter after landing on the moon and loaded the moon rocks.
The flight is also seen as an important preparation for a manned moon landing, which China plans for by the end of the decade.
