24 January 2018
China has accomplished its first successful Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), with a 1.2-meter telescope laser ranging system. Based on the signals of laser pulses reflected by the lunar retro-reflector planted by the U.S. manned mission Apollo 15, the applied astronomy group from the Yunnan Observatories measured the distance between the Apollo 15 retro-reflector and the Yunnan Observatories ground station to be 385,823.433 km to 387,119.600 km, from 9:25 p.m. to 10:31 p.m. Beijing Time, on 22 January 2018.
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