Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with the world's first samples from the far side of the moon
China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned on Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.
In a global first, China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned to Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon.
The probe landed in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China on Tuesday afternoon local time.
While past U.S. and Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon’s near side, the Chinese mission was the first to collect samples from the far side.
Chinese scientists anticipate the samples will include 2.5-million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about differences between the moon’s two sides.
The near side of the moon is what is seen from Earth, while the far side always faces outer space. Missions to the far side are challenging and risky because mission controllers on Earth have no way of directly contacting a spacecraft in that region.
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