China's Chang’e-5 team wins top int'l award

China's Chang'e-5 team has been awarded the Laurels for Team Achievement, the highest award presented by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), at the academy's annual meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan on 1st October, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Monday.

China launched the Chang'e-5 probe to the moon on Nov. 24, 2020. During the 23-day mission, the Chang'e-5 team successfully completed a complex mission and obtained two types of lunar samples. It was China's first extraterrestrial sample return mission. The award recognizes aerospace project mission teams that demonstrate outstanding performance and achieve extraordinary results in the aerospace field.