After weeks of space travel, China's Chang'e-5 probe has come back to Earth with fresh lunar rock and soil samples on Thursday morning, Beijing Time. The precious cargo is the first lunar samples that humanity has obtained in more than four decades. The returner capsule landed at the designated landing site in Siziwang Banner in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Agency (CNSA), declared Chang'e-5 mission a success, marking the conclusion of China's current three-step lunar exploration program of orbiting and landing, and bringing back samples. The program began in 2004. 02
此外，吴艳华还透露，嫦娥五号采回的部分月球土壤样品将入藏国家博物馆，向公众展示，进行科普教育。 As planned, the capsule with lunar samples inside will be transported to Beijing by air and opened there. In Beijing, CNSA will transfer the lunar materials to the Lunar Sample Laboratory at the National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has been built specially for its storage, processing and analysis. The lab has special facilities that will prevent the sample from being contaminated by the atmosphere and water on Earth. Scientists at the lab will first unpack, sort out and store the materials. They will then start long-term studies following strict scientific procedures, including analyzing its mineralogical and chemical composition. China will make some of the samples available to scientists in other countries. Some of the samples will also be set aside for public display. 03