China launches historic ‘Chang’e-5’ mission to collect & return samples from moon

On 24 November 2020, China launched a historic mission ‘Chang’e 5‘ to moon to collect ‘first lunar samples’.
The spacecraft “Chang’e-5” was launched on China’s indigenous Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern island province of Hainan province.
This is China’s first attempt to retrieve samples from an extraterrestrial body.
It is the world’s first moon-sample mission in more than 40 years.
Till date, only two nations, US and Soviet Union have been able to collect lunar sample. The last mission was undertaken by Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
The China’s spacecraft will collect and return samples from the moon. If successful, China will become only third nation to have collected lunar sample.
The mission aims at investigation of the landing area to obtain the on-site analysis data related to the lunar samples, as well as systematic and long-term laboratory analysis of the lunar samples.