China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft has delivered images of soil from the back side of the moon to Earth for the first time in human history, Chinese media reported.
The spacecraft was launched on May 3. On June 2, it successfully landed on the moon and began collecting samples before flying back. It landed on Earth on June 25 in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. No one has ever been able to do this before.
The collected samples may be four billion years old.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated China on the success of the mission after the vehicle launched from the surface of the moon. European Space Agency (ESA) chief Josef Aschbacher joined CNSA’s congratulations. He noted the successful co-operation between China and ESA on the Chang’e-6 mission, including the successful data collection by the NILS instrument and support for ESA ground stations in the early stages of the mission and during the return to Earth.
However, ESA and China’s joint work on lunar exploration may be coming to an end. At the moment, there are no decisions on the continuation of co-operation on Chang’e-7 or Chang’e-8.
In April, Chinese and Thai authorities signed initial agreements on co-operation in the peaceful use of outer space and international lunar research stations.
In 2023, China selected a space weather monitoring system developed by Thailand for its Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which will be launched around 2026 to explore the moon’s south pole resources for long-term human habitation. China aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
