A handover ceremony of Chang'e-5 lunar samples was held in Shaoshan on December 25, 2021. Shaoshan, as the location of China’s sole backup storage base, would shoulder the important mission of preserving the pressure samples.

Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and Hunan governor, and Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), attended and addressed the ceremony.

The handover ceremony of Chang'e-5 lunar samples was held in Shaoshan on December 25, 2021. Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and Hunan governor, attended and addressed the ceremony.

Deputy head of the CNSA, Hunan provincial leader Li Dianxun, Yang Haodong, and Zhang Yingchun, and Secretary of the Hunan Provincial People’s Government Deng Qunce were present.  

Twenty students chorused a poem “We bring down the moon from the ninth heaven, as you wish” to express consolation to Chairman Mao for his wish. The leaders present presented flower baskets to the bronze statue of Mao Zedong.

The CNSA issued a certificate of the lunar samples backup storage and a certificate of Chang’e 5 mission exhibition to Hunan University and Shaoshan City respectively. Part of the samples officially settled in Shaoshan hence.

Governor Mao expressed homage to the science and technology professionals undertaking the moon missions, and gratitude to the CNSA for its long-term concern and support for Hunan. The CNSA designated Shaoshan as the sole backup storage location for lunar samples to show high respects to the hometown of Chairman Mao. Hunan will cherish the honor and shoulder the responsibility in maintaining and operating the storage base. Meanwhile, Hunan will take this opportunity to develop aerospace industry, strengthen leading role of science and technology innovations, promote the lunar exploration spirit, spur breakthroughs on key missions of aerospace research, and accelerate construction of the pilot of holistic low-altitude airspace management and reform and the demonstration of comprehensive application of Beidou low-altitude airspace technologies. Hunan will strive to advance aerospace industry, to gain a foothold in building China into an aerospace powerhouse.

Mao added that, with great supports of central government, Hunan in recent years has established the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, developed BeiDou positioning chip, introduced key projects such as general aviation aero-engine project, and organized the Int'l Summit on BDS Applications. These have laid a solid foundation for the development of aerospace industry. He expected CNSA to continue to support Hunan and guide relevant departments to participate in key projects of the country, so as to enable Hunan to contribute more to the high-quality development of aerospace undertakings in China.

Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA, delivers a speech.

The CNSA issues a certificate of backup storage of Chang’e 5 lunar samples to Hunan University.

The lunar samples was retrieved by Chang’e 5 probe on December 17, 2020. The CNSA announced that Shaoshan, the home city of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, was designated as the backup storage location on that day. The backup storage base in Shaoshan has been completed, constructed by Hunan University. It is able to ensure the safety and storage of the samples.

At the handover ceremony.

All photos were taken by Liu Shaowen.

After the handover ceremony, the leaders present visited the backup storage base in Shaoshan.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn