China successfully lands on the Moon ahead of pioneering plan to bring pieces of it back to Earth
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.China says it has successfully landed on the Moon as part of a plan to bring pieces of the lunar surface back to Earth.
If the rest of the mission goes to plan, it will represent the first time that Moon rocks have been brought to our planet for more than 40 years, as part of the Apollo missions.
Chinese state media said that the Chang’e 5 spacecraft “successfully landed on the moon in the pre-selected landing area”, and cited space officials.
It did not give any further information about the landing or the mission, in keeping with relative quiet from official Chinese sources about its space missions.
The new spacecraft follows Chang’e 4, which arrived at the Moon’s far side almost exactly two years ago. That was the first ever mission to successfully achieve a “soft landing” on the distant lunar surface, and was hailed by China as a success.
It hopes that the trips to the Moon will eventually culminate in a mission to land a person on the Moon. Only the US has landed a human on the lunar surface, and it has not happened since 1972.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments