Xi Jinping Hails Chang'e 6's 'Landmark Achievement' As China's Lunar Probe Returns With Samples From Far Side Of Moon

In a significant development in space exploration, China’s Chang’e 6 probe has returned to Earth with the first-ever rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon.

What Happened: The probe successfully landed in the Inner Mongolian region of northern China on Tuesday, Associated Press reported on Tuesday. “The Chang'e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success,” declared Zhang Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration.

The samples, potentially including 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock, are expected to shed light on the geographical differences between the moon’s two sides. The far side of the moon, known for its mountains and impact craters, is not visible from Earth.

This mission is a first, as previous U.S. and Soviet missions have only collected samples from the moon’s near side. It is part of China’s escalating space rivalry with the U.S., Japan, and India.

China’s leader Xi Jinping hailed the mission as a “landmark achievement in our country’s efforts at becoming a space and technological power.”

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Why It Matters: The Chang’e 6 mission was launched to collect and return lunar samples, making China the first nation to attempt such a feat. This follows the successful Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, which marked the first human retrieval of lunar samples in 44 years.

According to Zongyu Yue, a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the samples “are expected to answer one of the most fundamental scientific questions in lunar science research: what geologic activity is responsible for the differences between the two sides?”

The mission also made a patriotic gesture by etching a mark resembling the Chinese character “Zhong” on the lunar surface before its return. This sparked a wave of national pride among Chinese citizens.

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Photo by chonrawit boonprakob via Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari