Chang’e-6 landed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the opposite side of the moon to Earth on June 1 and has now returned bearing lunar rocks and dust.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module has returned to Earth after two months in space on the „dark“ side of the moon.
The spacecraft, which launched on May 3, 2024, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully collecting and preparing to return the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon.
The mission’s lander, which touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on June 1, used a drill and scoop to gather approximately 4.4 pounds of lunar soil and rock. On Tuesday, Chang’e-6 crashed back down to Earth in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region, bringing the moon rocks back home with it.
The lander collected the samples from the Apollo crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is a crater that is billions of years old, on the opposite side of the moon to Earth. It remained out of view to Earth until the 1960s when the first lunar orbiters sent back pictures of the moon’s far side.
This marks the first time lunar samples have been brought back to Earth from the moon’s far side—the nine other missions that have retrieved moon rocks and soil landed on the side facing us.
