China’s Spacecraft Commences Return Voyage with Samples from Lunar Far Side

The ascender of China’s Chang’e-6 probe lifted off from lunar surface on Tuesday morning, carrying samples collected from the moon’s far side, an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history.

The ascender has entered a preset orbit around the moon, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The ascender took off at 7:38 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the moon’s far side. A 3,000-newton engine, after working for about six minutes, pushed the ascender to the preset lunar orbit, according to the CNSA.

The Chang’e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner – like its predecessor Chang’e-5 — was launched on May 3. The lander-ascender combination, separated from the orbiter-returner combination on May 30, touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.