China has launched a pioneer mission to an unmarked side of the moon, setting plans in motion to potentially set up camp there one day.
On Friday, the country embarked on one of their most ambitious space missions yet, the launch of a probe to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth within two months. If successful, they’d be the first people to ever succeed in obtaining samples from that part of the moon.
China has already successfully landed an unmanned spacecraft on that side and has also brought back samples from the near side, but this project will attempt to combine the two.
The Long March 5 rocket topped with an 8.3-ton spacecraft named Chang’e 6, blasted off at 5:27 p.m. Friday local time (5:27 a.m. Eastern) from the country’s southernmost spaceport, the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the subtropical island of Hainan. In Chinese mythology, Chang’e is known as a woman who consumed an elixir of life before flying to the moon.
Thirty-seven minutes after take off, the spacecraft detached as engineers monitoring the mission from ground control center smiled and cheered it on. Zhang Zuosheng, the launch mission commander, declared the launch was a “perfect success,” saying everything had gone as planned and the spacecraft was on its trajectory.
Beijing has continued to lay out plans to become a space power and scientific force, establishing plans to land Chinese astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030 and set up a base at the moon’s south pole. This has created a new frontier in their space rivalry with the United States, also including the development of computer chips and solar panels.
China’s steps to extend its reach past Earth’s orbit to the moon and even Mars over the years has been a cause of concern at NASA, whose own moon program, called Artemis, is facing delays and blockage from members of congress.
The probe, originally built as a backup for China’s 2020 mission to the moon’s near side, is projected to touch down in the Apollo crater in the larger South Pole-Aitken basin of the moon.
Many gathered at Hainan’s beaches to witness the launch, which was televised live by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), like previous missions.
Chang’e 6 is expected to arrive at the moon in about four days, and its full journey is supposed to take 53 days, bringing back about 4.4 pounds of samples.
