Craft unfurls China's flag on the far side of the moon and lifts off with lunar rocks to bring home
apnews.com
China says its spacecraft unfurled the country’s red and gold flag on the far side of the moon before lifting off with rock and soil samples to bring back to Earth.
  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    26 days ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    BEIJING (AP) — China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth.

    The ascender of the Chang’e-6 probe lifted off Tuesday morning Beijing time and entered a preset orbit around the moon, the China National Space Administration said.

    The container will be transferred to a reentry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.

    Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications.

    It is the oldest and largest of such craters on the moon, so may provide the earliest information about it, Xinhua said, adding that the huge impact may have ejected materials from deep below the surface.

    The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so.

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