A panorama returned by the Chang'e-5 lander, showing robotic sampling arm and scoop marks in lunar regolith.
A panorama returned by the Chang'e-5 lander, showing robotic sampling arm and scoop marks in lunar regolith. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

WASHINGTON — NASA currently has no plans to trade any of its Apollo-era lunar samples with those returned by China’s Chang’e-5 mission, although then agency’s chief scientist held out hope for such an exchange in the future.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...