Chinese Spacecraft Lands On Moon's Far Side To Collect Samples

Chinese space officials stated that the unmanned spacecraft Chang'e 6 successfully landed in a pre-selected area on June 1.

The CNSA had previously succeeded in sending the Chang'e 4 spacecraft to space.

Space magazine reported that Chang'e 6 will make further history for China.

According to the report, if everything goes according to plan, the mission aims to collect samples and send them back to Earth, providing researchers with a first close-up look at materials from this part of the moon.

The Washington Post noted that China has marked its second mission to a remote area of the moon, where no other country has landed amid increasing international competition for space exploration.

This media outlet also reported that this is the first mission in history to recover samples from the moon's far side.

China's lunar exploration began with the Chang'e program, named after the Chinese moon goddess. The first mission, Chang'e 1, launched in 2007, successfully mapped the lunar surface, followed by Chang'e 2 in 2010 with higher resolution mapping.

In 2013, Chang'e 3 achieved a historic soft landing and deployed the Yutu rover, making China the third country to do so. Building on this, Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the moon in 2019, and Chang'e 5 collected lunar samples in 2020.

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