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The return module of the space probe known as Chang’e-5 landed in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration.
The return capsule of China’s Chang’e-5 probe landed on Earth in the early hours of Thursday, bringing back the country’s first samples collected from the moon, as well as the world’s coolest lunar samples in more than 40 years. # ChangE5 #Lunar probe pic.twitter.com/hyLaFBUtdD
– China Xinhua News (@XHNews) December 16, 2020
Beijing is seeking to catch up with the United States and Russia after taking decades to match the achievements of its rivals and has invested billions in its military-managed space program.
The spacecraft, named after a mythical Chinese moon goddess, landed on the Moon on December 1 and began its return journey two days later. While on the moon, he hoisted the Chinese flag, the Chinese space agency said.
Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the Moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.
With this mission, China became the third country to have recovered samples from the Moon, after the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
This was the first such attempt since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
The spacecraft’s mission was to collect two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of material in an area known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms,” a vast previously unexplored lava plain, according to the scientific journal Nature.
Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream,” as he calls it, have accelerated.
China hopes to have a manned space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the Moon.
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