China’s first return trip to the moon

China’s first return trip to the moon

• August 14, 2014

A lunar spacecraft, to be used in China’s first return trip to the moon, has arrived at its launch site in Xichang, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The test lunar orbiter will be launched later this year, and will be China’s first attempt at returning a lunar probe back to Earth.

While many countries have landed probes on the moon, only Russia and the US have successfully conducted a return mission.

The craft is expected to enter the moon’s orbit, before tests are carried out to see if it can exit the moon’s gravitational pull.

The test launch will be a precursor to China’s future Chang’e-5 mission that plans to send a rover to collect samples from the moon’s surface before returning to Earth.

Senior adviser with China Academy of Space Technology, Ye Peijian, said that the next step would be to send humans to the moon.

“China started late in the space race. We never had astronauts in lunar missions,” said Mr Ye.

“So after we are able to have probes return to Earth, we’ll study and move to possible manned lunar missions.”

Last year China soft-landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon, making it the third country to do so, and the first in 3 decades.