China's Chang'e-5 completes spacecraft docking in lunar orbit; transfers Moon rocks

China's Chang'e-5 probe that touched down on Moon transferred rock samples it collected from lunar surface to its orbiter on Sunday, country's ncy said.

Chang'e-5 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender, and a returner, was launched on vember 24, and its lander-ascender combination touched down on rth of Mons Rumker in Oceanus Procellarum, also kwn as Ocean of Storms, on near side of moon on December 1.

Chang'e-5 expected to bring 2 kg of lunar samples back to earth

" ascender of craft which collected samples from moon successfully rendezvoused and docked with orbiter-returner combination in lunar orbit early Sunday," China National Administration (CNSA) said. "Next, orbiter-returner will separate from ascender, and wait for right time to return to Earth," it said.

samples collected on moon had been transferred from ascender to returner safely by 6:12 am (local time), said CNSA. After samples were collected and sealed, ascender of Chang'e-5 took off from lunar surface on December 3. Chang'e-5 probe, named after mythical Chinese moon goddess, is expected to bring about 2 kilograms of lunar samples back to Earth.

'China chose a complicated techlogical approach'

"China chose a complicated techlogical approach, including unmanned rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, in order to bring back more samples and lay a techlogical foundation for manned lunar missions," said Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of Lunar Exploration and Program Centre of CNSA, according to Xinhua.

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This is first time a Chinese craft has carried out rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. Chang'e-5 is one of most complicated and challenging missions in Chinese aero history, as well as world's first moon-sample mission in more than 40 years.

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Those samples will w be put in a return capsule for trip home, expected to land in Inner Mongolia later this month. If mission is successful, it will make China only third country to return samples from moon, more than 50 years after US Apollo missions. last successful lunar sample return mission was Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission in 1976.

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China is in midst of a series of increasingly ambitious missions including a probe en route to Mars and development of a reusable plane. Plans call for returning a human to moon five decades after American astronauts.

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