A Chinese spacecraft landed on the Moon’s far side on Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.
The landing module touched down at 6.23am Beijing time in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.
The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e Moon exploration programme, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess.
It is the second mission that aims to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
The Moon programme is part of a growing rivalry with the US — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India.
China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.
The emerging global power aims to put a person on the Moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so.
America is planning to land astronauts on the Moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though Nasa pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.
US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the Moon because of uncertainty over SpaceX’s development of a mega-rocket.
Nasa is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the Moon.
In China’s current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of surface and underground material for about two days.
An ascender on top of the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the Moon.
The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule, which is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region around June 25.
Missions to the Moon’s far side are more difficult because it does not face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications.
The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
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