Chinese space capsule returns to Earth carrying moon rocks

Lunar material first to return to Earth since Soviet mission in 1970s

The Chang’e 5 probe was recovered by Chinese teams after it landed down in the country’s snow-capped far north (AP)

A Chinese spacecraft has returned to Earth bringing with it the first rock lifted from the surface of the moon for more than 40 years.  

The Chang’e 5 probe touched down in the far north of China’s Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday evening two weeks after it drilled about 2kg of material from the surface of the moon.  

The samples will help scientists better understand the history of the Earth’s only natural satellite, as they are thought to be billions of years younger than previous material brought back by the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and ‘70s.  

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, was quoted by the state-run news agency describing the Chang’e 5 mission as a major achievement that marked a great step forward for the nation’s space industry.

The Communist state has been rapidly developing its homegrown space programme in recent decades, and has previously sent other unmanned probes to explore the far side of the moon and a rover to Mars.  

Analysts said China appeared to have carried out the complex and technical Chang’e 5 mission flawlessly.  

A rocket lifted off from China’s southern island province of Hainan on 23 November and carried two modules of the probe to the surface of the moon by 1 December.  

Then, the spacecraft scraped debris up and drilled down into the moon rock about two metres, before sealing the material in a container and transferring it to an ascent vehicle which returned it to orbit.  

After bouncing itself off the Earth’s atmosphere to reduce speed, the capsule containing the moon rock re-entered before floating to the ground on parachutes in China’s snow-covered far north, where it was retrieved by ground crews in helicopters and off-road vehicles.

The mission marks the first time humans have brought samples from the moon back to Earth since the Soviet Luna 24 probe in 1976.  

Research into the material will shed new light on the development of the moon, experts said.  

"These samples will be a treasure trove," Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University, said. "My hat is off to our Chinese colleagues for pulling off a very difficult mission; the science that will flow from analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years, and hopefully will involve the international community of scientists."

They may also help scientists better understand how prevalent substances such as hydrogen or oxygen – necessary for maintaining life – are on the moon.  

China has already sketched out its next steps in its ambitious space programme, which include building a permanent orbiting space station in the next two years and a robotic mission to explore more of Mars.