{"id":4078,"date":"2024-06-05T11:51:40","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T11:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/05\/china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2024-06-05T11:51:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T11:51:40","slug":"china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/05\/china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"China spacecraft Chang\u2019e-6 first to collect samples from far side of the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Chinese spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after becoming the first ever probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon.<\/p>\n

The Chang’e-6 lifted off just after 12.30am UK time on Tuesday to begin its journey home, according to the China<\/strong> National Space Administration.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Officials said it had been successful in collecting rocks and soil – by using a drill and robotic arm to dig below the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

After completing the task, the probe unveiled a Chinese flag.<\/p>\n

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Mission accomplished!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

“An unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history!”<\/p>\n

The spacecraft was launched last month and touched down on Sunday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Its re-entry capsule is due to land in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region on 25 June.<\/p>\n

Missions to the moon’s far side, which permanently faces away from the Earth, are more difficult because a relay satellite is required to maintain communications.<\/p>\n

The surface is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.<\/p>\n

China’s Xinhua News Agency said the landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin – an impact crater eight miles deep and 1,500 miles wide – which is thought to have been created more than four billion years ago.<\/p>\n

It is the oldest and largest such crater on the moon, so could provide significant information because the original impact may have ejected materials from deep below its surface.<\/p>\n

Read more:
The space race for the moon’s water
What you need to know about NASA and China’s space race<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration programme, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess.<\/p>\n

It is also China’s second trip to the far side of the moon, with its craft Chang’e-4 becoming the first to successfully land there<\/strong> in 2019.<\/p>\n

The mission comes amid a growing space rivalry among countries including China, India, Japan and the US.<\/p>\n

Beijing aims to put a person on the moon by 2030<\/strong>, while US agency NASA <\/strong>hopes to achieve the feat again<\/strong> in September 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Chinese spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after becoming the first ever probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon. The Chang’e-6 lifted off just after 12.30am UK time on Tuesday to begin its journey home, according to the China National Space Administration. Officials said it had been successful <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}