December 16, 2020
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A graphic simulation shows the orbiter and returner combination of China's Chang'e-5 probe after its separation from the ascender. (Image: CNSA)
The Chinese space agency announced Dec. 16 the return of a lunar probe bringing back the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.
Jolliff
Bradley L. Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, said that the Chang’e-5 lunar probe landed in a scientifically very important location on the moon.