The Chinese capsule carrying moon rocks on board landed safely on Earth on Wednesday evening (Dutch time). The Chang’e 5 mission landed in the Inner Mongolia region in northern China. This is the first time since the US Apollo 17 mission in 1976 that moon rocks have been returned to Earth.
Chang’e-5 was launched to the moon on November 23. On December 1st it landed on Mons Romcker’s volcanic formation. This spot formed in the northern hemisphere of the moon about a billion years ago. So Mons Romaker is much smaller than many of the other places explored on the surface of the Moon.
The probe was brought to the moon by a probe. Upon arrival, a lander was sent to the surface of the moon and the probe continued to orbit the moon as a satellite. On the surface, the spacecraft collected about 2 kilograms of lunar material and placed it in a capsule aboard a type of “intermediate vehicle”.
When enough materials were gathered, this intermediate vehicle returned to the satellite. The medium vehicle delivered the stones to the satellite and then collided with the surface of the moon itself. Then the satellite returned to Earth itself to throw stones.
China left the lander and the flag on the moon
The probe was left on the moon’s surface, along with the Chinese flag. This makes China the second country to have a flag on the moon. It was the United States at the start when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin flagged their first moon landing in 1969.
The capsule was chosen from the steppe by a special team. The stones will now be transported to the Chinese capital, Beijing, where they will be inspected. With the stones, China wants to know more about the history and structure of the moon.
