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BEIJING (AP) – The Chinese landing of its third probe on the moon is part of an increasingly ambitious space program that includes a robot rover en route to Mars, is developing a reusable space plane and is planning to bring humans back to the lunar surface .
The Chang’e 5, the first attempt to bring moon rocks to Earth since the 1970s, collected samples Wednesday, the Chinese space agency announced. The probe landed on Tuesday on the Sea of Storms on the near side of the moon.
Space exploration is a political trophy for the ruling Communist Party, which wants global influence to match China’s economic success.
China is a generation behind the United States and Russia, but its secret and military agenda is developing rapidly. It is creating distinctive missions that, if successful, could put Beijing at the forefront of space flight.
The next decade will be “critical enough” for space exploration, said Kathleen Campbell, an astrobiologist and geologist at the University of Auckland.
“This is where we will transform from nearby Earth’s orbit and return to what people will call ‘deep space’,” Campbell said.
In 2003, China became the third nation to launch an astronaut into orbit alone, four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Its first temporary orbiting laboratory was launched in 2011 and a second in 2016. Plans include the launch of a permanent space station after 2022.
This week’s landing is “a historic step in China’s cooperation with the international community in the peaceful use of space,” said a spokesman for the foreign ministry, Hua Chunying.
“China will continue to promote international cooperation and the exploration and use of space in the spirit of working for the benefit of all humanity,” Hua said.
After astronaut Yang Liwei’s flight in 2003, space officials expressed hope for a manned lunar mission as early as this year. But they said it depended on budget and technology. They rejected that target by 2024 or later.
The space agency has given no reason to land its latest probe on the Sea of Storms, far from where the American and Soviet ships landed. But the choice could help shed light on possible sites being studied for a manned mission.
The Beijing space plane would be the Chinese version of the American Space Shuttle and the short-lived Buran of the former Soviet Union.
China has also launched its own Beidou network of navigation satellites so that the Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, does not need to rely on US-operated GPS or a rival Russian system.
Last year, China switched from “me too” missions by copying Soviet and American enterprises to get its first results when it became the first nation to land a probe on the little-explored side of the moon.
That probe, the Chang’e 4, and its robot rover are still functioning, transmitting to Earth via an orbiter that passes over the far side of the moon. China’s first lunar lander, the Chang’e 3, is still broadcasting.
China’s first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou Capsules, was based on Russian technology. Its powerful Long March rockets are, like their Soviet and American predecessors, based on ballistic missiles developed using technology seized by Nazi Germany after World War II.
China proceeded with greater caution than the crazy US-Soviet space race of the 1960s, characterized by casualties. China’s manned missions went on without incident. Some robotic vehicle launches have been delayed by technical problems, but appear to have been fixed.
China is in a growing space rivalry with its Asian neighbors Japan and India, which it sees as strategic competitors. Both have sent their own probes to Mars.
As Chang’e 5 collects moon rocks, the Japanese space agency has just completed the even more challenging feat of obtaining samples from an asteroid, Ryugu. The Hayabusa2 mission is expected to deliver them to Earth on Saturday.
As his confidence grows, Beijing’s space objectives have multiplied.
He joined the race to explore Mars, and his Tianwen-1 probe, launched in July carrying a rover robot looking for water signs, is expected to complete its 470 million kilometer (292 million mile) journey in February.
Plans call for a manned permanent space station as early as 2022.
China is excluded from the International Space Station due to US opposition to the inclusion of Chinese military officers in an enterprise that would otherwise be run by civilian space agencies.
The plans also call for an international lunar research base at some point, Chinese agency deputy director of the lunar exploration center Pei Zhaoyu told reporters last week.
Despite its successes, China’s military-run program is more secretive than those of other governments.
Yang and other Chinese astronauts made only a handful of brief public appearances after their flights, in contrast to Soviet and American astronauts who were sent on global advertising tours before applauding foreign crowds.
The agency announced in September that its spacecraft had successfully completed a test flight, but has not yet released details or even a photo of the aircraft.
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Milko reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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