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More than half a century after American astronauts first planted the Stars and Stripes on the moon, China has replicated the feat – albeit unmanned – by displaying its red flag on the lunar surface.
Chang’e 5’s ascension vehicle took off Thursday evening with a load of moon rocks, the first stop on its return to Earth, the government space agency reported.
The probe landed in the Stormy Sea on Tuesday on a mission to collect around 4 pounds of rock and bring it back to Earth, the first return of samples since a Soviet spacecraft did so in 1976.
The lander, which remained on the moon, drilled about six feet into the surface and took samples – as well as photographed the area and used ground-penetrating radar to check for minerals and water.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Beijing time, the vehicle took off for a rendezvous with a returning spacecraft in lunar orbit for the return trip to Earth, space agency officials said.
But the highlight before leaving the surface was what the space administration called the first real Chinese flag on the moon – a red five-star fabric banner, according to the Global Times of China.
The country’s national flag made its moon debut in December 2013 during the country’s first lunar landing. He also made an appearance on the Dark Side of the Moon in January 2019, the outlet reported.
But these flags were not made of actual fabric like the latter, which was developed by China Space Sanjiang Group under the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.
The flag was deployed with a rod-like structure that is applied in solar panels extending for satellites and other types of spacecraft, the developers of CASIC told the Global Times.
All components have been given special protection, such as cold-hardiness measures, to help cope with the extreme conditions of the lunar surface, the outlet reported.
“An ordinary national flag on Earth would not survive the harsh lunar environment,” team member Cheng Chang told the Global Times.
Chinese officials recalled the iconic images returned to Earth from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the first American flag on the moon.
“The memory of yesterday is still fresh and clear, when American astronauts came out of their cabins and planted the first flag in human history, an American national flag, on the moon in 1969,” recalled Song Zhongping.
“But China is also on the verge of presenting its own national flag, which in my opinion is recognition of the achievements and breakthroughs we have made, which will be the most precious thing.”
With pole wires
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