11th Space Day of China Opening Ceremony

China will open its 11th Space Day on April 24 in Chengdu, using the annual event to unveil new deep-space updates and put lunar samples from both sides of the moon on public display. (news.cgtn.com) The China National Space Administration said the Chengdu program includes an opening ceremony, science exhibitions and cultural forums, with the China Space Conference running from April 23 to April 25. A space science and technology exhibition is scheduled from April 24 to May 5. (english.news.cn) Officials said the opening ceremony will include briefings on deep-space exploration, commercial space activity and new research on lunar material returned by Chang’e 5. The exhibition will also show Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6 samples together, pairing material from the moon’s near side and far side. (news.cgtn.com) Moon samples are pieces of rock and dust brought back to Earth by robotic probes, letting scientists test how different parts of the lunar surface formed. China’s Chang’e 5 mission returned near-side samples in 2020, and Chang’e 6 returned the first-ever far-side samples in 2024. (news.cgtn.com) Putting those samples side by side turns a public exhibition into a snapshot of China’s recent lunar program. It also gives researchers and visitors a direct comparison between material from the side of the moon that faces Earth and the side that does not. (news.cgtn.com) The 2026 event lands on two anniversaries: it is the 11th Space Day of China, and it comes in the 70th year of China’s space industry and the 10th year since the commemorative day was established. April 24 marks the 1970 launch of Dongfanghong-1, China’s first satellite. (spacechina.org) China National Space Administration officials also tied the event to a busy 2026 launch calendar. At an April 17 briefing, the agency said this year’s plans include the Tianwen-2 asteroid mission, crewed Shenzhou flights, cargo missions to the Tiangong space station and reusable rocket flight tests. (news.cgtn.com) Brazil is this year’s guest of honor, extending a space partnership that Chinese officials linked to nearly four decades of cooperation on the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program. The guest-country role adds an international track to an event centered on domestic missions and research. (news.cgtn.com) By the time the ceremony opens in Chengdu on April 24, the event will be doing two jobs at once: marking China’s first satellite launch in 1970 and presenting the next round of missions, samples and hardware now moving through its space program. (english.news.cn)