Watch a Chinese Spacecraft Launch From the Moon and Start Its Trip Back to Earth

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

Two days after it landed on the moon, China’s Chang’e-5 mission is on its way again, blasting off back to space, the beginning of its journey back to Earth ferrying a bounty of soil and rocks for scientists to study.

The top half of the lander launched at 10:10 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, according to the China National Space Administration. Footage posted by Chinese state media showed the flash of the spacecraft’s engine as it headed to orbit, an ascent that took about six minutes.

It was the first time any spacecraft had launched from the lunar surface since the end of the Cold War moon race in 1976, and the first Chinese spacecraft to ever blast off from another world in the solar system.

The lander set down on Tuesday in a region of the moon known as Mons Rümker. The spacecraft was in the middle of a basalt lava plain that is about two billion years younger than the parts of the moon explored more than four decades ago by NASA’s Apollo astronauts and the Soviet Union’s robotic Luna landers. Images from the spacecraft show a desolate landscape with gentle rolling hills, a sign of its youth.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/science/china-moon-mission.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

[PirateRo]

1. This is awesome

Congratulations to that team!

Too bad for the US, huh? We’r building a wall and watching Arecibo observatory crumble into the jungle while one political party tries to hurl their shit at the other party and subvert democracy.

Joe and Kamala have a big honey-do lust before them. Fortunately for us, they are more competent than thos fools running the country into the ground these last four years.

[Sapient Donkey]

2. Yes, this is awesome for China (and the world in general) However, it's not too bad for the US...

The US spends more on space exploration than any other nation. Check out all the missions NASA and JPL have going on at this time. China spends about $8 billion and we spend about $22 billion. Even under Trump the budget has been increased every year. Although I did read about some concerns with how their suggestions for how the funds should be used by NASA. I think they wanted a larger than usual portion to go toward exploration missions or something along those lines.

https://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/
Hovering over the missions menu item gives a list of links to the pages for them.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/?type=current


The Chinese space program is awesome and it should be interesting to see where they go next. However, the US isn't sitting around doing nothing when it comes to space. It's just people seem to ignore most of the stuff that NASA does. What do you think of the US' investment in space missions compared to China after seeing this information?

[PirateRo]

3. I follow the space program closely

I am delighted to see more and more countries take action to create their own space programs and I delight in the role NASA has, including funding and spinning off commercial space.

Where I have a problem is in a political party shoving religion out the door instead of science. I have a big problem that the day the Chinese sample return mission lands on the moon, we watch Arecibo collapse into the valley floor. This is unconscionable.

The current administrator for NASA is just a stuffed suit. Give me Dan Goldin every time and not someone sucking up to a Wanna-be-dictator or king.

Please google NASA spinoff to view the fallout of technology the organization has left in its wake. Right now, they are single-handedly building the commercial space industry. Just the fallout from the journey towards commercial space will change the world. Once it is achieved, we will operate in an entirely different way.

And not a single wooden cross or monolith will be required.