China will share freshly collected samples and data from the moon with other countries as “national gifts” upon the successful conclusion of its Chang’e 5 probe, but this is unlikely to include the United States due to existing restrictions, according to the deputy head of the country’s space agency.

“The Chinese government is willing to share lunar samples with like-minded institutions and scientists from various countries,” said Wu Yanhua, deputy head of the China National Space Administration. “Some of them may be given as national gifts in accordance with international practices.”

Wu was speaking at a briefing following Thursday’s landing of Chang’e 5, which has completed the country’s first mission to retrieve materials such as rock and debris from the moon. It was also the first time that lunar samples have been collected from the moon in 40 years, also making China the third country after the U.S. and the former Soviet Union to have successfully collected samples from the moon.

But whether the “like-minded institutions and scientists” will include those from the U.S. space agency NASA will depend on U.S. policy, said Wu, adding that the circumstances were “unfortunate.”

The U.S. Congress banned NASA from working directly with China in 2011 following national security concerns over the transfer of technical information or knowledge through commercial or space program collaboration.

Despite this, Wu stressed that China was willing to cooperate with U.S. agencies and scientists, but only on an equal-footing and mutually beneficial basis.

The capsule from the Chang’e 5 probe carrying around 2 kilograms of rock, debris and soil collected from the moon landed in the Siziwang district in Inner Mongolia at 1:59 a.m. on Dec. 17, the state news agency Xinhua said. The probe took off on Nov. 24 and landed on the moon on Dec. 1 after seven days of travel. It worked for 19 hours, scooping samples from the surface and drilling 2 meters into the moon’s crust, before making its way back to Earth.

“There is no end for space exploration … This is China’s most complicated space mission, and has contributed to mankind’s peaceful space exploration,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a remark congratulating the mission’s success.

Named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, the Chang’e mission is among China’s growing ambitions in venturing into space. Besides the moon, a robotic mission to Mars, a permanent orbiting space station and an exploration of Jupiter and its moons are also on China’s space agenda.

The lunar samples have yet to be taken out of the probe but further announcements will be made, Hu Hao, chief designer of the third phase of China’s lunar exploration program, told Reuters.

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