China has made history by performing a very soft landing on the far side of the moon

China's Chang'e 6 spacecraft achieved a historic landing on the far side of the Moon, aiming to collect precious rock samples from the unexplored South Pole-Aitken Basin that could reveal insights into planetary formation.

China has recently boasted of its new moon rover, Chang’e 6, which has landed on the far side of the moon, a feat that has only been accomplished by China and the United States in space exploration.

The Chang'e 6 touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 6:On Sunday at 23:00 Beijing time after it was launched in early May, the landing was very risky because the craft was on the far side of the moon and it was difficult to communicate with it.

“This is a historic moment,” CCTV said, and following that, “applause appeared” at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Centre.

The main scientific objectives of Chang’e 6 are to obtain the initial lunar samples of rocks and regolith from the South Pole-Aitken Basin. They think that more about the formation of planets, and the sources of water and crusts in the solar system can be learned from this material.

Over the next several days, the lander will employ a drill and an articulated arm to obtain approximately 4. Moon rocks and dust – 4 pounds (2 kg). It will then transfer them to a returner vehicle to be taken back to Earth for further study by Chinese scientists as well as other scientists.

“Everybody is very enthusiastic that we could get a glimpse of these rocks that nobody has seen before,” said John Pernet-Fisher a lunar geologist from the University of Manchester.

The successful landing of the Chang’e 6 also makes China a significantly more viable contender in the field of space exploration. In 2019, it created history for the first time that it successfully landed a rover on the far side of the lunar face through the Chang’e 4.

Also Read: NASA spacecraft establishes successful communication with India's Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon

China is expected to launch three more moon missions this decade, before a crewed moon mission around 2030 to make the country third alongside the United States and Russia to send people to the lunar surface. The U.   S.   is also working to send humans back to the Moon by 2026 through the Artemis program.