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China's Chang'e 5 capsule lands on Earth with the first moon samples in 44 years

 A capsule loaded with lunar samples landed in Inner Mongolia on Dec. 16  at 12:59 p.m. EST,  capping China's historic Chang'e 5 mission. 


 Image Credit: CNSA

                 

The last such moon delivery came courtesy of the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission, which returned about 170 grams of material in 1976. Chang'e 5's haul should be much larger — about  2 kilograms. With Chang'e 5's apparent success — mission teams still need to inspect and assess the returned sample — China has become just the third nation to bring moon material to Earth. The other two are the Soviet Union and the United States, which hauled home about 382 kg of lunar rocks and dirt during the six Apollo surface missions between 1969 and 1972.

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