Chinese probe “Chang’e-5” with pieces of the moon began its journey to Earth
Xinhua and Reuters report that the Chinese automatic station Chang’e-5 successfully left the orbit of the moon and headed towards the Earth. Thus, there is very little time left until the completion of the mission.
Let us remind you that the Change-5 spacecraft went to the natural satellite of our planet at the end of last month. The probe successfully soft-landed on the lunar surface and retrieved regolith.
Later, the take-off module docked in the lunar orbit with the service module and handed over a capsule with lunar soil. Then preparations began for the removal of the vehicle from lunar orbit.
And now it is reported that last Sunday, the Change-5 station, at an altitude of about 230 km from the surface of the Moon, launched its engines, starting its return to Earth. The power plant worked for a total of about 22 minutes, giving the apparatus the necessary flight parameters.
Soon, a capsule with regolith samples is to land in Inner Mongolia. Thus, China is only one step away from becoming the third space power after the Soviet Union and the United States, which was able to deliver lunar soil to Earth.
