China is about to collect the first moon rocks since the 1970s

The lunar samples will come from a site that was volcanically active relatively recently

team members of China’s Chang’e-5 mission celebrating the spacecraft’s launch

Team members of China’s Chang’e-5 mission celebrated the spacecraft’s launch on November 24, 2020. The mission aims to return the first samples from the moon since 1976.

Jin Liwang/Xinhua via Getty Images

Update: Chang’e-5’s return capsule landed back on Earth December 16.