A delegation from the Chinese National Space Administration has traveled to the INTA facilities in Maspalomas to personally thank the effort made during the activities to support the re-entry of the Chang'E-5 lunar module and explore new avenues of collaboration. The delegation, composed of the chief designer of the lunar missions, the deputy chief designer of the same, staff of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, and the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was received by the director of the Canary Islands Space Center, who presided over the presentation of the center's activities and accompanied them on a tour of the facilities, after which the Chinese delegation presented their future plans with respect to lunar exploration.
Finally, the Chinese delegation presented a gift as a token of its gratitude: a photo of one of the lunar samples collected by the Chang'E-5 mission, praising the work and collaboration between Spain and China in aerospace matters.
In December 2020, Spain with its INTA base in Maspalomas helped in the Chinese Chang'e-5 mission, which returned to Earth with samples of rocks and "soil" from the Moon. The capsule containing these materials landed in Mongolia. It was the first time in more than 40 years since missions from the United States and the then Soviet Union collected lunar rocks and soil to be analyzed on our planet. The samples will allow us to investigate the geology and early history of the Earth's natural satellite.
