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Space: China’s Chang’e-5 probe returns to Earth with lunar samples

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Congrats to China’s space program! Sometimes, a hard problem really is “rocket science”! :D

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/16/chinese-spacecraft-carrying-rocks-and-soil-from-the-moon-returns-safely

The Guardian said:
An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the moon returned safely to Earth early on Thursday (local time) in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.

The return module of the space probe known as Chang’e-5 landed in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration.

Beijing is looking to catch up with the US and Russia after taking decades to match its rivals’ achievements and has poured billions into its military-run space programme.

The spacecraft, named after a mythical Chinese moon goddess, landed on the moon on 1 December and began its return voyage two days later. While on the moon it raised the Chinese flag, China’s space agency has said.

Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.

With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the US and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

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