China has achieved a major milestone by launching a carrier rocket carrying the groundbreaking “Chang’e-6” probe from the Wenchang Cosmodrome on Hainan Island in southern China. This mission marks the first time in history that soil samples from the far side of the Moon will be collected and brought back to Earth. The duration of the mission is expected to be 53 days.
The rocket took off at 17:27 Beijing time (12:27 Moscow time) amidst live coverage on local TV channels.
Prior to this, Japan made headlines by successfully landing its spacecraft on the Moon for the first time, joining the ranks of the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India in achieving this feat.
While these countries have successfully landed spacecraft on the Moon, Russia faced a setback with the unsuccessful launch of the interplanetary station “Luna-25” last year. The malfunction of the onboard control system during the spacecraft’s transition to the pre-landing orbit was cited as the reason for the failure.
India also made significant progress on August 23, 2023, by landing a lander module with a rover as part of the “Chandrayaan-3” mission near the Moon’s south pole. The rover’s mission is to study the Moon’s seismic activity and analyze the thermal and physical properties of the lunar regolith.
Article from theins.ru