BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for greater contributions to the peaceful use of outer space through a continuous spirit of lunar exploration and furthering the innovative development of China’s space industry.
Xi made the remarks while meeting some of the Chang’e-5 mission participants at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Xi also visited an exhibition showcasing samples from the moon acquired in the mission. Meanwhile, China’s Long March-5B (Y2) rocket, which will launch China’s space station module, has safely arrived at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern China’s Hainan Province on Monday, according to China Manned Space (CMS).
Final assembly and testing work on the Tianhe core module and the Long March-5B rocket will be carried out at the site, CMS said.
Earlier on December 16, China’s moon mission had came to an end with its spacecraft returning back to Earth with lunar samples, a first for the country.
Around 2:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 16, the Chang’e 5 re-entry capsule carrying the moon rocks landed safely in Inner Mongolia, in the north of the country, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
China is only the third country in the world to retrieve lunar samples after the efforts by the U.S. in the 1960s and the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The Chang’e 5 spacecraft was launched via the Long March 5 rocket on Nov. 24. The probe landed on the moon on Dec. 1 and the day after collected the samples. On Dec. 3, the spacecraft was successfully launched from the lunar surface into a predetermined orbit around the moon carrying the samples. A recovery team is working on recovering the samples and transporting them to Beijing, according to CASC.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN News exchange item
