After two previous missions and more than 50 years after the United States planted it’s first flag on the moons surface, China has become the second nation to accomplish the same feat.
China plants its flag on moon before return trip to Earth https://t.co/0EchtDKrxW pic.twitter.com/XDtLbU1ed8
— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2020
Photos of the flag were taken by China’s Change’e-5 space probe before leaving the Moon’s surface with rock samples, BBC news reported. Additional photos taken by China‘s National Space Administration show the flag standing motionless on the moon’s surface.
The flag has a width of 2 meters, a length of 90 centimeters, and weighs about a kilogram. Additionally, the Chinese flag was designed to be able to withstand the cold temperatures on the moon. (RELATED: NASA Is Paying A Company $1 To Gather Moon Rocks)
Cheng Chang, the project developer explained, “An ordinary national flag on Earth would not survive the severe lunar environment,” according to BBC.
The U.S. planted it’s first flag on the moon in 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission, in addition to five other American flags being placed on the lunar surface during other missions to the moon. Five out of six of the U.S. flags have reportedly been bleached white due to solar radiation.