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China’s Chang’e-5 mission has successfully collected samples from the lunar surface, authorities announced Thursday.
“Sampling completed! After about 19 hours of work on the lunar surface, Chang’e-5 successfully completed robotic sample collection, and the samples were sealed and packaged,” Hua Chunying, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter. Chinese.
According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the spacecraft began collecting samples after its successful landing late Tuesday night, eight days after taking off from Hainan, southern China, on November 24.
“Chang’e 5 is expected to work for about two days in a region north of Mons Ruemker, a mountain overlooking a vast lunar mare called Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, on the western edge of the near side of the moon,” reads a statement. of the CNSA released Wednesday.
“It will bring about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples to Earth in mid-December, 44 years after the last of the lunar substances were returned to Earth,” he said.
The spacecraft also sent back its first color photos from the lunar surface.
This is the third Chinese mission to land on the moon, following the Chang’e-3 probe in December 2013 and the historic Chang’e-4 probe which reached the far side of the moon in January 2019.
If the Chang’e-5 mission – which is expected to last about 23 days – is successful, China will become only the third country in the world to bring back champions from the moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, the statement said. of the CNSA.
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