Explainer | The bold ambitions behind China’s Chang’e 5 moon mission

Latest lunar expedition is a milestone for the Chinese space programme and has reignited a long-dormant race for the stars

Part of the samples from the moon’s surface will be kept in Mao Zedong’s home province, in his honour

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The Chang’e 5 lunar probe, carried by a Long March rocket, before take-off on its way to the moon. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:54pm, 1 Dec 2020Updated: 10:23am, 2 Dec 2020

China’s latest mission to collect samples from the lunar surface is a milestone for the country’s Chang’e space programme, which aims to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.

China is also planning to set up a research base on the moon and is eyeing the prospect of deeper space exploration. Its capabilities are being closely watched by the US in what has become a new front in the rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

What is the Chang’e programme and what are its aims?

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched the Chang’e space programme in 2003 with four phases announced so far. Its first two missions, in 2007 and 2010, orbited the moon.

This was followed by a soft landing and rover exploration in the third mission, before Chang’e 4 made history in 2019 as the first spacecraft from any country to land on the far side of the moon. The lunar rover Yutu 2 was also deployed to explore the surface.

The latest mission – Chang’e 5 – marks the third phase of China’s space programme, to send a craft to the surface to collect samples and return with them to Earth.

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