China Plants Its Flag on the Moon

It was left during mission to collect moon rocks
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 4, 2020 3:26 PM CST
China Plants Its Flag on the Moon
Image of the Chinese flag on the moon released by Chinese state media.   (China National Space Administration)

China did more than collect rocks in this week's mission to the moon. The state-controlled Global Times says the unmanned mission also left behind a national flag. While previous Chinese lunar missions have displayed a flag, this is the first free-standing one from China, made with fabric, to unfurl up there, per CBS News. The flag-planting came as Beijing landed a probe on the moon to dig into the surface and collect rocks and debris. Those samples, the first ones to be gathered in about 40 years, are expected to arrive back on Earth later this month. (More China stories.)

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