Daily Times

United Nations’ officials on Tuesday hailed the historic success of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission after the probe returned to Earth earlier that day carrying the first ever samples obtained from the far side of the moon, with the feat seen as a major triumph for the global science community.

The Chang’e-6 mission concluded its 53-day journey as it touched down in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday, becoming the first spacecraft to successfully retrieve and return samples from the lunar far side and paving the way for scientists to uncover potentially groundbreaking secrets about the moon. Pakistan’s “historic” lunar satellite iCube-Q was also launched as part of the Chinese mission.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, commended the mission as a “remarkable achievement” during a press briefing in New York City on Tuesday, and also pointed to the level of international cooperation involved in the project.

“It’s also a great demonstration of international collaboration in terms of outer space affairs. We understand there were also teams from Italy, from France, from Pakistan, and the European Space Agency, all involved. It’s also important, as we understand, that the valuable lunar samples will be shared with researchers around the world,” said Dujarric.

Launched on May 3, Chang’e-6 carried four international payloads, including Pakistan’s ICUBE-Q satellite, fostering lunar image capture and data sharing initiatives. The cube satellite separated from the main probe five days after launching to undertake its own mission alongside China’s lunar exploration efforts.

During a ceremony in Beijing shortly afterwards, China transferred the first batch of lunar data to Pakistan, sharing the first photographs captured by ICUBE-Q and strengthening bilateral cooperation in space exploration.

Munir Akram, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, emphasized the potential scientific impact of the Chang’e-6 mission and said he hopes that it will enable scientists to “discover new things that will be a benefit to all of mankind.”

Akram also emphasized the significance of the partnership between China and Pakistan in terms of space exploration and believes there will be more joint endeavors between the two countries in the future.

“Our partnership is all-encompassing and comprehensive, and this is a new area of our cooperation. And we are very happy to join China in this quest out into space,” he said.

The momentous Chang’e-6 mission was considered one of the most complex and challenging undertakings in China’s space exploration efforts to date, and marked another milestone after the country become the first to achieve a soft landing on the moon’s far side back in 2019.