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Chinese lunar probe gathers first moon rock samples since 1970s

RT, 03 Dec 2020
A Chinese probe sent to bring back the first ‘fresh’ moon rock in nearly half a century has begun collecting samples.

The Chang’e 5 lunar probe touched down shortly after 3pm GMT on Tuesday and immediately got to work.

‘Chang’e has collected moon samples,’ announced the China National Space Administration, adding that said the probe’s solar panels had also successfully unfolded.

It’s the latest big step for a space program that sent its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, has a spacecraft on its way to Mars and plans to land a human on the Moon.

If it succeeds in getting the rocks home, they will be the first new lunar samples available to scientists since a Soviet probe gathered some in the 1970s. The new materials are expected to be made available to scientists from other nations.

American and Russian space officials congratulated the Chinese program.
‘Congratulations to China on the successful landing of Chang’e 5. This is no easy task,’ tweeted NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen.
Subtext: Gimme some rocks, please.

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