China’s spacecraft takes off from moon with lunar samples

China’s spacecraft takes off from moon with lunar samples

Beijing, Dec 4 : A Chinese spacecraft carrying the country’s first lunar samples has started its return journey from the moon, according to the country’s space authority.China’s Chang’e-5 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender, and a returner, was launched on November 24. After the samples were collected and sealed, the ascender of Chang’e-5 took off from the lunar surface on Thursday at 11:10 pm (Beijing Time).It represented the first-ever Chinese spacecraft to take off from an extra-terrestrial body.The Chinese spacecraft adopted two methods of moon sampling, including using drills to collect subsurface samples and grabbing samples on the surface with a robotic arm. It gathered diverse samples at different sites.This is the first effort to bring samples from the moon in over 40 years.

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