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Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Science

China probe lands on moon’s far side in first-ever sample retrieval mission

The Chang'e-6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China [Reuters]

China has landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon, overcoming a key hurdle in its landmark mission to retrieve the world’s first rock and soil samples from the dark lunar hemisphere.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said in a statement that the Chang’e-6 touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 6:23am Beijing time on Sunday after completing a multistage landing process.

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