China’s lunar lander collected samples and snapped color photos

[Mike Wehner]

• The Chinese space agency has wasted absolutely no time in collecting lunar surface samples with its Chang'e 5 lander.
• The spacecraft has already sampled the lunar surface and that material will soon be headed back to Earth.
• Once the samples are carried into space on an "ascender" vehicle they will be handed off and sent back to Earth where they will land in China.

China's Chang'e 5 mission to the Moon is moving fast. The mission, which successfully landed on the lunar surface just days ago, rapidly moved to secure lunar surface material samples for eventual return to Earth. The lander also captured some lovely color photographs from its new home on the Moon, and it's all pretty awesome.

The mission is a complex one, and China has shown that it's willing to be incredibly ambitious when it comes to catching up to the likes of the United States and Russia in space exploration. Assuming that the Chinese space agency pulls off the complicated sample return objective, it'll be the first time that Earth gets new samples from the Moon in decades.

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China’s lunar lander collected samples and snapped color photos originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 3 Dec 2020 at 23:08:25 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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