Inner Mongolia’s grasslands have welcomed the return capsule of China’s Chang’e 6 mission, marking the end of a 53-day journey that brought back the first-ever lunar far side samples to Earth. On June 25, the capsule made a fiery plunge through the atmosphere and landed safely in the designated area.
The capsule was then airlifted to Beijing and transferred to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), where researchers opened it and examined key technical indicators. During a ceremony held at CAST, a sample container holding up to 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of material from the moon was secured for further processing. The samples will be transferred to specialized facilities for storage, analysis, and distribution for research purposes.
This achievement in China’s space exploration efforts marks an important milestone in the study of the moon’s far side. NASA-funded researchers were granted special clearance last year to apply for access to lunar samples, just like those collected by Chang’e 5 in 2020. These materials will be made available for research to scientists and institutions in China, with the possibility of applications from international researchers after two years.
As space enthusiasts eagerly await more discoveries delivered straight to their inboxes, this latest achievement is just one example of how far we have come in our quest to understand our place in the universe.