China will allow scientists from six countries, including the United States, to study lunar samples collected by its Chang’e-5 mission, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Thursday.
Two NASA-funded U.S. institutions, Brown University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, have been granted access to the lunar material, CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said, according to Chinese media reports.
Shan described the samples as “a shared treasure for all humanity” and stated that China remains committed to active international collaboration in space science.
The move marks a rare moment of scientific exchange between the U.S. and China, despite an ongoing trade war and existing restrictions under a 2011 U.S. law that limits NASA’s cooperation with Chinese entities unless Congress grants special authorization.
John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the examination of the moon rocks “has very little to do with politics” and poses no military significance, describing the exchange as “international cooperation in science, which is the norm.”
The Chang’e-5 mission in 2020 made China only the third country, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to retrieve lunar material. The samples are of particular scientific interest because they may be about a billion years younger than those brought back by NASA’s Apollo missions, suggesting prolonged volcanic activity on the Moon, Logsdon said.
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, told Reuters that growing U.S. “isolationism” would not help its space ambitions, adding that China’s increased openness reflects its “rise in self-confidence.”
Separately, China advanced its manned space program Thursday by launching three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-20 mission to the Tiangong space station.
#China launched the #Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship on Thursday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station for a six-month mission.#chinaspace pic.twitter.com/bffSwxFwnv
— Chinese Embassy in US (@ChineseEmbinUS) April 24, 2025
