Beijing - China successfully landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Sunday, achieving a major milestone in its ambitious mission to retrieve rock and soil samples from the moon's unexplored hemisphere.
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft, equipped with a variety of scientific instruments and its own launcher, touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time (2223 GMT), according to the China National Space Administration. This mission, which includes numerous engineering innovations and high risks, aims to carry out scientific exploration and collect 2 kg (4.4 pounds) of lunar material over two days.
This marks China's second successful mission to the far side of the moon, an area known for its deep craters and challenging landing conditions. Neil Melville-Kenney, a technical officer at the European Space Agency, highlighted the difficulties of such missions due to the lack of direct communication and the need for high levels of automation in shadowy, cratered regions.
The Chang'e-6 probe launched on May 3 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island and began its landing preparations after a week in lunar orbit. This mission is part of a broader trend, with Japan's SLIM lander and a lander from U.S. startup Intuitive Machines also making lunar landings this year.
China's lunar exploration efforts, which include a planned astronaut landing around 2030 in collaboration with Russia, follow its first lunar sample return mission in 2020 with Chang'e-5. The U.S. Artemis program, involving international partners and private companies like SpaceX, aims for a crewed moon landing by late 2026 or later.
If successful, Chang'e-6 will return its samples to Earth by June 25, providing valuable insights into the moon's history and enabling unprecedented comparisons between its near and far sides.