Chinese Lunar Probe Brings Samples From Far Side of Moon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe returned to Earth on Tuesday, bringing back the first-ever samples from the unexplored far side of the moon.
The re-entry capsule landed in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia at 2:07 pm local time, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said, adding that the mission was a "complete success," CNBC reported.
Chang'e-6 returned to Earth with soil collected from the South Pole-Aitken Basin --a massive crater in the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth.
The probe landed on the moon on June 2, took off again on June 4 and then spent 13 days in the moon's orbit before returning to Earth. In total, Chang'e-6 mission took 53 days from its May 3 departure from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan, an island off China's south coast.
The probe will be airlifted to Beijing where its cabin will be opened and sample container removed.
Chang'e-6's predecessor, Chang'e-5, successfully returned in 2020 after unfurling the first Chinese national flag on the moon. It had set out to collect roughly 2 kg of lunar regolith. The feat turned China into just the third country —after the US and Soviet Union— to achieve lunar sampling at the time, although it is not yet exactly known what it successfully brought back.
