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The Chinese probe Chang’e 5 mission that brought home the first samples of the lunar surface in 44 years in the most demanding robotic mission of the Chinese space program to date has ended. “Congratulations to China for bringing the lunar samples to Earth!” tweeted Thomas Zurbuchen, director of NASA’s science mission. “The international scientific community celebrates the success of Chang’e 5. These samples will help reveal the secrets of our Earth-Moon system and gain new insights into the history of the solar system.” Recovery teams secured the capsule after landing in China’s Mongolia region.
It is the first mission to return lunar samples to Earth after the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robotic mission in 1976. The success marks a milestone in the Chinese space exploration program which during this mission has accomplished a feat never attempted by anyone until now. The first automatic coupling between two robotic vehicles in lunar orbit, which took place between the capsule that collected the samples on the Moon and the mother probe that ‘awaited’ it in orbit. With this feat, China has set another record, after the first landing on the other side last year with the Chang’e 4 mission. The Chang’e 5 mission began with the most powerful Chinese rocket on 23 November. landed on the moon on December 1. After collecting the samples, the capsule left the moon on December 3, in what was China’s first launch from the moon.
The capsule then encountered the mother probe in lunar orbit to deliver the precious cargo. After delivery of the lunar rocks to the probe destined to return to Earth, the capsule intentionally crashed into the Moon on December 7. Once these steps were completed, all that was left was to bring the lunar samples back to Earth. Chinese officials did not disclose the exact time of landing in advance, but public warnings were issued during the time scheduled for the probe’s return to warn pilots not to fly over the mission recovery area. Chinese state media also did not broadcast the return of the mission to Earth live, instead only starting video coverage after the capsule landed. Recovery teams arrived at the Chang’e return module 5 minutes after landing to begin the probe’s security operations and placed a Chinese flag on the snowy terrain of Mongolia where it landed.
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