Chang’e 5 moon mission gives China ‘unequalled record’ in lunar landings

onebyone · Dec 17, 2020

Apollo 11 expert and space historian praises three out of three successes after raising a Tsingtao to returning capsule

For Beijing, the programme is a vindication of its political system as well as a demonstration of technological progress

Stephen Chen in Beijing
Published: 7:00pm, 17 Dec, 2020

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Jubilant ground staff at the Chang’e 5 return capsule’s landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia region. Photo: Xinhua
Ken MacTaggart popped a Tsingtao beer as he watched the
Chang’e 5 re-entry capsule land
on the snow-covered grassland of Inner Mongolia on Thursday morning, with its “priceless cargo” of rocks and dust from a young volcano on the moon.
MacTaggart, a British-based space historian and co-editor of Nasa’s Apollo 11 Flight Journal,has been closely following the Chinese
moon mission
. He could not help but compare it with previous efforts by other countries to bring samples back to Earth – most recently 44 years ago – and he was impressed.