China's Chang'e 6 mission continues to make history, having collected the first samples ever retrieved from the far side of the moon and now transferring those samples between spacecraft in orbit. That transfer was necessary for the next step in the samples' journey — returning to Earth.
The successful rendezvous and docking of the Chang'e 6 moon probe's ascender and its orbital module took place at 2:48 p.m. Beijing time (2:48 a.m. ET; 0648 GMT) on Thursday (June 6), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The safe transfer of the lunar sample container was completed by 3:24 p.m. Beijing time (3:24 p.m. ET; 0724 GMT). This was the second time a CNSA spacecraft had achieved lunar orbit rendezvous and docking, with the previous example being Chang'e 5.
