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A Chinese probe sent to the moon to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades has successfully landed, according to the Beijing space agency.
China has invested billions in its military-led space program, hoping to have a manned space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the moon.
The goal of the latest mission is to collect moon rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the origins, formation, and volcanic activity of the moon on its surface.
The Chang’e-5 spacecraft, named after the Chinese moon goddess, landed on the near side of the moon late on Tuesday, state media agency Xinhua reported, citing the National Space Administration. from China.
If the return trip is successful, China will be only the third country to have recovered samples from the moon, after the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
The probe entered the moon’s orbit on Saturday after a 112-hour trip from Earth, Xinhua said, after a rocket took it into space from Hainan province last week.
It involves collecting 2 kg (4.5 pounds) of surface material in a previously unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), which consists of a vast plain of lava, according to the scientific journal Nature.
Harvesting will take place over the course of one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
Its lunar samples will then be returned to Earth in a capsule scheduled to land in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China this month, according to NASA, the US space agency.
The mission is technically challenging and involves several innovations that had not been seen during previous attempts to collect lunar rocks, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researcher Jonathan McDowell said last month.
Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream,” as he calls it, have accelerated.
The new superpower seeks to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of belatedly matching their space milestones.
A Chinese lunar rover landed on the other side of the moon in January 2019 in a world first that fueled Beijing’s aspirations to become a space superpower.
The latest probe is among a series of ambitious goals set by Beijing, including creating a powerful rocket capable of delivering heavier payloads than NASA and private rocket company SpaceX can handle, a lunar base and a space station with permanent crew.
Chinese astronauts and scientists have also discussed manned missions to Mars.
