China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe landed on June 25, 2024, in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, making China the first country to deliver samples from the back of the Moon. This was reported by The Reuters.

The probe collected lunar soil after a successful landing at the south pole of the Moon in the Aitken Basin, an impact crater on the side of our satellite that is always turned away from Earth.

Shortly after the capsule landed, the head of the Chinese National Space Administration, Zhang Kejian, announced the successful completion of the lunar mission. Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the completion of the mission was a “landmark achievement” in China’s quest to become a space and scientific power.

The Chang’e-6 probe was launched on May 3 by a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan. The samples will be delivered to Beijing for analysis.

Samples from the Chang’e-5 mission, which returned lunar samples from the lunar nearside, led to the discovery of new minerals and more precise ranges of the lunar geological age.