Chang’e 5 | The Chinese Spacecraft On The Moon

After a long time, a country hoisted the national flag on the moon again. The first example was America. The second country is  China.

Chang’e 5 is an ongoing robotic mission of the Chinese Lunar  Exploration Program. It was launched on 23 November 2020  at 20:30 UTC and landed on the moon on 1 December 2020, with an expected return to earth around 16 December 2020. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese Moon goddess Change’e.




After collecting soil and pebbles from the moon, the Chinese spacecraft ‘Chang’e 5’ started its journey back to Earth at 11:10 pm Beijing time on Thursday. Shortly before that, the spacecraft hoisted the country’s flag on the moon. The photo was released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday. At the same time, Chin was credited with successfully launching the spacecraft back from Earth.

               Read More: In His Autobiography ‘A Promised Land’, Barack Obama Praised Indian Culture




The moment the spacecraft was launched from the moon’s surface was broadcast in the Chinese media. It can be seen that the spacecraft is leaving the ground of the moon and flying towards zero in the blink of an eye. This image is captured by a camera mounted under the ‘Surface Landing Mechanism’.

In addition to digging and sampling the surface, Chang’e 5 has also collected samples from the surface of the ‘machine hand’. The samples will be used to study the origin of the moon, Chinese scientists said. Attempts will also be made to search for information on the volcanoes of Earth’s only satellite. The spacecraft was landed at Manas Rukmar, a volcanic area. According to experts, the age of the specimens collected from here should not be more than 1.3 billion years.




If the mission is successful, China will be the third country after the United States and Russia to collect samples from the moon. However, the samples brought by the American ‘Apollo’ or the Russian ‘Luna Lander’ are very old, scientists say. The last time samples were collected from the moon was in 1976. According to experts, there must be a difference in the samples brought from Chang’e 5.




As a result, scientists are now looking at this Chinese mission to find a new direction in research on the moon. On November 24, one by one, the Orbiter, the Lander, the Ascender and the Returner crossed the Chang’e 5 to the moon. However, the biggest challenge for China now is to successfully bring the spacecraft to Earth after going through several complex steps. If all goes well, Chang’e 5 will land in Inner Mongolia in the middle of this month, including the sample.