BEIJING, June 6The Chinese Chang'e-6 probe, which for the first time in history collected soil samples from the far side of the Moon, successfully delivered samples to the orbital module, China Central Television reports.
“»The Chang'e-6 ascent module successfully completed docking in lunar orbit with the orbital module of the re-entry spacecraft and safely delivered a container with lunar soil samples,» the statement said.
China's Chang'e-6 probe landed and sampled soil on the far side of the Moon earlier this week, becoming the first man-made spacecraft to visit the outer side of its moon. The probe launched from Earth in early May, reached its surface in early June, and began returning to Earth on June 4.
The correspondent previously reported that the Chang'e-5 Y8 rocket was launched on May 3 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island as scheduled at 17:27 local time (12:27 Moscow time). If the mission is successful, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft will deliver soil from the far side of the Moon to Earth for the first time in human history. According to the plan released by the China National Space Administration, about 2 kilograms of soil samples are planned to be delivered to Earth.
Chang'e-6 consists of an orbital module, a return module, a descent module and a take-off module, the probe is equipped with a payload, including a landing camera, a panoramic camera, a spectral analysis instrument for minerals and an instrument for analyzing the structure of lunar soil. In addition, Chang'e-6 carries an international payload, including the French DORN detector for measuring radon gas and its decay products on the surface of the Earth's natural satellite, the European Space Agency's NILS negative ion analyzer, the Italian laser corner reflector, and the Pakistani ICUBE-Q satellite.