Lunar soil sample goes on display at National Museum of China in Beijing

A lunar soil sample collected by China's Chang'e-5 mission in late 2020 is now on display at the National Museum of China in Beijing. The sample is housed in a specially designed synthetic quartz container that replicates an ancient bronze wine vessel used in Shang and Zhou dynasty ceremonies. The container stands 38.44 cm tall, referencing the average distance between Earth and the Moon (384,400 km), and is 22.89 cm wide, recalling the 22.89-day duration of the Chang'e-5 mission. Inside the quartz vessel is a sphere representing both the Moon and the Chang'e-5 return capsule, which contains the lunar dust. The sphere is suspended over a hemisphere symbolizing the Northern Hemisphere, with China's silhouette visible. The Chang'e-5 spacecraft launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province on November 24, 2020, landed on the Moon on December 1, and returned to Earth fifteen days later. This display follows a precedent set by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., which in 2019 mounted the traveling exhibition Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission for the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. That exhibition featured the command module of the Columbia spacecraft, with a 3-D interactive tour created from high-resolution scans. Starting in 2022, the Smithsonian Museum will permanently host Destination Moon, a dedicated museum of lunar exploration.