China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft heads to far side of the moon

China launched a Long March 5 rocket on Friday, May 3, carrying the Chang’e-6 spacecraft, aiming to be the first mission to return a sample from the far side of the moon. The spacecraft, named after the Chinese moon goddess, will take five days to reach the moon, with the mission spanning a total of 53 days.

Scientists hope the samples will provide insights into the moon’s origin.

“The Chang’e-6 aims to achieve breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the moon’s retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling, take-off and ascent technologies, and automatic sample-return on the far side of the moon,” Ge Ping, deputy director of the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) Center of Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering said.

The Chang’e-6 mission includes four components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender, and a reentry module. The lander will collect moon dust and rocks from the South Pole-Aitken basin, a large crater over 4 billion years old. Afterward, an ascender will carry the samples to the orbiter, which will transfer them to the reentry module for the return to Earth.

As the space race intensifies, China remains the only country to have successfully landed on the moon’s far side, achieving this feat in 2019.