A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon 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 6:23 a.m. 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 program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang´e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. – 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.