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chang’e-4 mission

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Image source: Wikimedia Commons

China has become the second nation to plant its flag on the Moon, more than 50 years after the US first planted its flag there.

The pictures from China’s National Space Administration show the flag holding still on the windless lunar surface.

The pictures were taken by a camera on the Chang’e-5 space probe before it left the Moon with rock samples on December 3.

Two previous Chinese lunar missions had flags on the crafts’ coatings – so neither could be affixed to the moon.

The US planted the first flag on the Moon during the manned Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Five further US flags were planted on the lunar surface during subsequent missions up until 1972.

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In 2012, NASA cited satellite images as showing that five of the flags were still standing, but experts quoted in media reports say they are likely to have been bleached white by the sun’s glare.

The first flag was said by astronaut Buzz Aldrin to have been placed too close to the Apollo lunar module and was, he said, probably blown away when the module blasted off.

The state-run Global Times newspaper said the Chinese flag was a reminder of the “excitement and inspiration” felt during the US Apollo missions.

The fabric flag was unfurled by the Chang’e-5 lander vehicle just before its ascender vehicle took off using the lander as a launchpad.

It has taken soil and rock samples to China’s lunar orbiter 9 miles above the lunar surface – which will then be enclosed in a module that will be aimed at China’s Inner Mongolia region.

The Chinese flag is 2m wide and 90cm tall and weighs about a kilogram. All parts of the flag have been given features such as protection against cold temperatures, project leader Li Yunfeng told the Global Times.

“An ordinary national flag on Earth would not survive the severe lunar environment,” project developer Cheng Chang said.

China’s national flag was seen on the Moon during its first lunar landing mission, Chang’e-3 in photographs taken by the lander and rover of each other. The Chang’e-4 lander and rover brought the flag to the dark side of the moon in 2019.

However, in both cases the flag was on the crafts’ coating rather than being an actual fabric flag on a pole.

The Chang’e-5 mission is China’s third successful landing on the Moon in seven years.

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China has announced it successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first ever such attempt and landing.

According to state media, at 10:26 Beijing time, the un-crewed Chang’e-4 probe touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

The Chang’e-4 probe is carrying instruments to analyze the unexplored region’s geology, as well to conduct biological experiments.

The landing is being seen as a major milestone in space exploration.

There have been numerous missions to the Moon in recent years, but the vast majority have been to orbit, fly by or impact. The last crewed landing was Apollo 17 in 1972.

The Chang’e-4 probe has already sent back its first pictures from the surface, which were shared by state media.

With no direct communication link possible, all pictures and data have to be bounced off a separate satellite before being relayed to Earth.

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Previous Moon missions have landed on the Earth-facing side, but this is the first time any craft has landed successfully on the unexplored and rugged far side.

Some spacecraft have crashed into the far side, either after system failures, or after they had completed their mission.

The Chang’e-4 was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China on December 7; it arrived in lunar orbit on December 12.

The mission was then directed to lower itself toward the Moon, being careful to identify and avoid obstacles, Chinese state media say.

The Chang’e-4 probe is aiming to explore a place called the Von Kármán crater, located within the much larger South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin – thought to have been formed by a giant impact early in the Moon’s history.

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