China has successfully landed a probe on the moon as part of a mission to collect the first lunar samples since the 1970s, the country’s space agency said Tuesday.
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, quoting the China National Space Administration, the Chang’e-5 spacecraft landed on the lunar surface just after 11 p.m. Beijing time on Tuesday evening.
The landing concludes the probe’s 112-hour journey from Earth, Xinhua said. Chang’e-5 aims to bring rocks and soil back from the lunar surface so that scientists can learn more about how the moon was formed.
The mission marks the latest development in China’s nascent space program. Beijing has invested heavily in space research over the past decade and plans to build a manned space station by 2022, before finally sending a crew to the moon.
If Chang’e-5 returns safely, China will become the third country to return lunar samples after the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
The probe has landed in a lava plain near the moon called Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms,” which covers about 10% of the lunar surface.
Over the next two weeks, the spacecraft will collect and store 2 kilos of material. It will then attempt to return them to Earth in a capsule that will land in Northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
During President Xi Jinping’s tenure, China stepped up its efforts to become a major space force.
The Asian nation has reportedly committed $ 8 billion to space exploration, more than any other country except the US.
In July Beijing launched his first solo mission to Mars, a daring attempt to mimic the US and USSR by piloting a spacecraft on the red planet.
The probe, Tianwen-1, is expected to and will reach its destination early next year sand the surface for signs of the past or present.
Get in touch with reporter Matthew Walsh ([email protected]) and editor Joshua Dummer ([email protected])
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