[ad_1]
The Long March 5 rocket carrying Chang’e 5 is seen on the launch pad of the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan. The 8.2-tonne Change 5 probe, consisting of a lander, ascender, service module and return capsule, is the sixth mission of China’s Change lunar exploration program. The purpose of the mission is to collect samples of lunar soil and rocks from Oceanus Procellarum and bring them back to Earth. If successful, Change 5 will be the first sample return mission since 1976.
Alexei Ivanov | TASS | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China – A Chinese spacecraft carrying lunar samples has lifted off from the Moon and is preparing to return to Earth.
This is the first time that China has launched a spacecraft from an alien body and the first time it has collected moon samples. If the lunar samples return to Earth, China will be only the third country in the world to recover lunar samples after the efforts of the United States in the 1960s and the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
At 11:10 p.m. Beijing time on Thursday, the Chang’e-5 spacecraft lifted off the moon, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The spacecraft has been successfully launched into a predetermined orbit around the moon.
The probe will meet a returning spacecraft returning to Earth and is expected to land in China’s Inner Mongolia region around mid-December.
China has stepped up its space efforts in recent years. President Xi Jinping urged the industry earlier this year to make China a “great space power as soon as possible,” according to the state-backed China Daily.
In June, China launched the latest satellite to complement Beidou, its rival in the US government-owned global positioning system (GPS), which is widely used around the world.
And in July, China also launched an ambitious mission to Mars called Tianwen -1.
[ad_2]
Source link