STORY: :: China's Chang'e-6 moon probe lands back on Earth, touching down in Inner Mongolia
:: June 25, 2024
:: Inner Mongolia, China
:: This could make it the first probe to successfully bring back samples from the moon's far side
The reentry capsule touched down at 2:07 p.m. Beijing time (0607 GMT), according to state broadcaster CCTV, carrying lunar soil collected earlier in the month by the probe after a successful landing on the moon's South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater on the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the mission's completion was a "landmark achievement" in China's quest to become a space and scientific powerhouse.
While it is yet not known whether the planned 2kg of samples were successfully returned, whatever the amount, the samples will be closely analyzed by Chinese and foreign scientists, who believe that they will reveal new details about the formation of the Earth, moon, and solar system.
