{"id":784,"date":"2024-06-05T00:01:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T00:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/05\/china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2024-06-05T00:01:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T00:01:42","slug":"china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/05\/china-spacecraft-change-6-first-to-collect-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"China spacecraft Chang\u2019e-6 first to collect samples from far side of the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A Chinese spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after becoming the first ever probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon.<\/p>\n<p>The Chang\u2019e-6 lifted off just after 12.30am UK time on Tuesday to begin its journey home, according to the <strong>China<\/strong> National Space Administration.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-site-outbrain sdc-site-outbrain--AR_6\">    <\/div>\n<p>Officials said it had been successful in collecting rocks and soil \u2013 by using a drill and robotic arm to dig below the lunar surface.<\/p>\n<p>After completing the task, the probe unveiled a Chinese flag.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying wrote on X, formerly Twitter: \u201cMission accomplished!<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--teads\">        <\/div>\n<p>\u201cAn unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft was launched last month and <strong>touched down on Sunday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Its re-entry capsule is due to land in the deserts of China\u2019s Inner Mongolia region on 25 June.<\/p>\n<p>Missions to the moon\u2019s far side, which permanently faces away from the Earth, are more difficult because a relay satellite is required to maintain communications.<\/p>\n<p>The surface is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s Xinhua News Agency said the landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin \u2013 an impact crater eight miles deep and 1,500 miles wide \u2013 which is thought to have been created more than four billion years ago.<\/p>\n<p>It is the oldest and largest such crater on the moon, so could provide significant information because the original impact may have ejected materials from deep below its surface.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<br \/>The space race for the moon\u2019s water<br \/>What you need to know about NASA and China\u2019s space race<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The mission is the sixth in the Chang\u2019e moon exploration programme, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess.<\/p>\n<p>It is also China\u2019s second trip to the far side of the moon, with its craft Chang\u2019e-4 becoming the <strong>first to successfully land there<\/strong> in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The mission comes amid a growing space rivalry among countries including China, India, Japan and the US.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing aims to put a <strong>person on the moon by 2030<\/strong>, while US agency <strong>NASA <\/strong>hopes to <strong>achieve the feat again<\/strong> in September 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Chinese spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after becoming the first ever&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}