Chang'e 6 Sample Return Mission to far side of Moon

China has achieved another space first, achieving the second successful landing of a craft on the Moon's far side and returning a sample of the lunar soil from the far side to Earth for the first time.

Imaged below is the Chang'e 6 Chinese lunar lander on the surface of the far side of the moon in the South Pole-Aitken Basin as imaged by a small rover it released.

Chang'e 6, which landed on June 2nd, is only the second successful far side lunar landing by any country and is attempting to return samples collected from the surface back to Earth, the first mission to attempt a sample return from the Moon's far side.

Scientists are very excited at the prospect of analysing material collected from the lunar far side, which may be very different from the rock samples returned by the US Apollo astronauts from the near side.