Juneteenth celebration events highlight metro-east calendar this weekend msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
China has shared a look at the first moon samples to be brought back to Earth in more than 45 years.
The lunar regolith was collected by the nation s Chang e 5 mission that returned in December with 3.8 pounds of soil and rocks from our natural satellite.
The images show the samples as small as dust particles up to larger chunks, along with samples inside a crystal container that will go on display at the National Museum of China.
The container is designed like a ritual Chinese wine vessel, or zun, and holds the lunar dust within a hallow sphere that represents both the moon and the Chang 5 re-entry capsule.
Close
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, recovery crew members film the capsule of the Chang e 5 probe after its successful landed in Siziwang district, north China s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth on Thursday with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.
Ren Junchuan - foreign subscriber, Xinhua Chinese capsule returns to Earth carrying moon rocks A Chinese space capsule has returned to Earth with the first fresh rock samples from the moon in more than 40 years
By KEN MORITSUGU - Associated Press
The Associated Press
BEIJING A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth today with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.
The capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe landed in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region, state media reported shortly after 2:00 a.m. (1800 GMT).
The capsule earlier separated from its orbiter module and performed a bounce off the Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed before passing through and floating to the ground on parachutes.
Two of the Chang’e 5’s four modules set down on the moon on Dec. 1 and collected about 4.4 pounds of samples by scooping them from the surface and by drilling about 6 feet into the moon’s crust.
Moon rocks in hand, China prepares for future moon missions
by Sam McNeil, The Associated Press
Posted Dec 17, 2020 5:38 am EDT
Last Updated Dec 17, 2020 at 5:42 am EDT
BEIJING Following the successful return of moon rocks by its Chang’e 5 robotic probe, China is preparing for future missions that could set the stage for an eventual lunar base to host human explorers, a top space program official said Thursday.
China’s next three lunar missions are on track, along with programs for returning samples from Mars and exploring asteroids and the planet Jupiter, Deputy Chief Commander of the China Lunar Exploration Program Wu Yanhua said.