China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of moon on mission to bring rock samples back to Earth

Name: China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of the moon to bring rock samples back to Earth
Uploaded: 2024-06-01T23:07:03.000Z
Duration: 1 min 53 s
Description: China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of the moon to bring rock samples back to Earth

Probe lands on the South Pole-Aitken basin and will start collecting the first specimens from that area

The previous Chinese mission surprised scientists by bringing back rocks that were much younger than those collected by previous US and Soviet missions

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China has landed a spacecraft on the moon’s far side for a second time. Photo: CCTV

Ling Xinin Ohio

Published: 7:07am, 2 Jun 2024Updated: 1:00pm, 2 Jun 2024

China has landed on the moon’s far side for a second time, and will soon start collecting rock samples from the oldest lunar basin to bring back to Earth.

The Chang’e-6 lander successfully touched down in the northeastern part of the South Pole-Aitken basin at 6.23am Beijing time on Sunday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

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China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of the moon to bring rock samples back to Earth

“At 6.23 am on June 2, with the support of Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the Chang’e-6 lander and ascender successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the moon,” the CNSA said.

“The mission has made technological breakthroughs, including lunar retrograde orbit design and control technology. With the support of Queqiao-2, it will go on to complete key tasks such as the intelligent, rapid sampling from the lunar far side and lunar surface take-off.