Chang’e-6 Return Capsule Lands in Inner Mongolia

China’s Chang’e-6 mission has returned to Earth bearing samples collected from the far side of the Moon in a historic first for lunar exploration. 

Chang’e 4 was the first-ever landing of a spacecraft on the far side, and China became the third country after the United States and the Soviet Union to return a near-side sample with its Chang’e-5 flight in 2020.

The sample return capsule landed Tuesday June 25 at about 2:07 EDT (2:07 pm Beijing time) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The capsule was released from the spacecraft’s service module, which continues on in an extended mission for which the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has not provided any details to the public. The CNSA likewise did not provide any ongoing information about the spacecraft’s maneuvers during the mission.

The spacecraft consists of four components: an orbiter or service module, a lander with a smaller ascender module, and the sample return capsule. The mission was launched on May 3 and the lander touched down on June 1 in the Apollo Crater which lies within a large basin near the South Lunar Pole. After drilling and scooping up about 2 kg (4.4 lb) of material, the ascent module docked with the service module and deorbited the Moon to head back to Earth.

In addition to the sample return element of the mission, the spacecraft carried an instrument built by the European Space Agency (ESA) detected charged particles (ions) on the moon’s surface. Such ions had previously not been detected, and the ion detector was the very first ESA instrument to be placed on the moon.

FMI: https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english