China's lunar mission journeys back to Earth with first-ever samples from moon's far side
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission has commenced its return journey to Earth, carrying the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the moon.
The Chang'e-6 ascender, loaded with samples from some of the moon's oldest rocks at its south pole, lifted off from the lunar surface on June 4 at 7:38 am Chinese Standard Time, China’s space agency (CNSA) announced.
“At 7:38 a.m. on June 4, the Chang'e-6 ascender carrying lunar samples took off from the back of the moon. After the 3000N engine worked for about 6 minutes, it successfully sent the ascender into the predetermined lunar orbit,” CNSA said.
The mission achieved a milestone on June 3 with its successful ‘intelligent rapid sampling’ in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon's far side. The mission also transmitted images back to Earth after landing on June 2.
The CNSA confirmed that the samples were securely sealed in a storage device carried by the ascender vehicle. “The probe withstood the high-temperature test on the back of the moon and collected lunar samples through drilling with drilling tools and surface collection with a robotic arm, achieving multi-point and diversified automatic sampling,” the agency added.
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China remains the only country to have landed on the far side of the moon, first accomplishing this feat with its Chang’e-4 spacecraft in 2019. The Chang'e-6, China’s sixth lunar mission, was launched on May 3. The nation plans three more uncrewed missions this decade, aiming to discover water on the moon and explore the possibility of establishing a permanent base, according to the BBC.
