China Promises To Share Findings From Its Returned Lunar Probe

After 23 days and some 230,000 miles traveled, China's Chang'e-5 lunar capsule returned to Earth during Thursday's predawn hours. It carried cargo of more than four pounds of the first fresh samples of moon rocks and other debris in more than 40 years.

China's space agency said Thursday it intends to share its findings with the global scientific community.

The capsule for the Chang'e 5 probe landed in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region, the China National Space Administration reported. It first set off for the moon on Nov. 24.

The safe return of the lunar capsule wraps a groundbreaking mission for China's space exploration program. It made China just the third country to explore the moon's surface, after the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. It was also the first country to do so since 1976, when the the former Soviet Union's Luna 24 spacecraft returned from the moon.