New Lunar Samples Returned by Chang'e-5: Opportunities for New Discoveries and International Collaboration
The Chang'e-5 landing site and collecting samples on the Moon
On December 16th, 2020 at 17:59 UTC, the sample capsule of Chang'e-5 successfully landed at Dorbod Banner, Inner Mongolia, China. It is a milestone for the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), which has achieved the goals of its first three phases: orbiting, landing, and sample return. China becomes the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union. Forty-four years since the Luna 24 mission in 1976, new lunar samples have been returned to Earth.
