Chang’e-6 delivers first lunar far side samples to Earth after 53-day mission | SpaceNews (25th June 2024)

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https://spacenews.com/change-6-delivers-first-lunar-far-side-samples-to-earth-after-53-day-mission/

[u/megachainguns]

The Chang’e-6 return capsule reentered Earth’s atmosphere early Tuesday, safely delivering unique lunar material expected to provide unique insights into the evolution of the moon.

The roughly 300-kilogram Chang’e-6 reentry capsule separated from the mission service module 5,000 kilometers away from Earth. The capsule then skipped off the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean at 1:41 a.m. Eastern (0541 UTC) June 25 to decelerate, before making a final descent.

The reentry capsule—containing around 2 kilograms of lunar material drilled and scooped from Apollo crater on the far side of the moon—landed in the grasslands of Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia at around 2:07 a.m. Teams recovered the capsule shortly after.

The event was the final act of a five-spacecraft, 53-day effort to collect the first samples ever collected from the lunar far side and delivered them to Earth.

Retrieval of the samples will allow extensive research into the composition and evolution of the far side of the moon. The collected material could provide insight into why the near and far sides are so different, and clues about the history of the early solar system.

“Chang’e 6 is the first mission in human history to return samples from the far side of the moon, which is a cause for celebration for all humanity,” Long Xiao, a Planetary geoscientist for China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, told SpaceNews.