China has become the first country to collect samples from the farside of the moon, hopefully providing scientists with new insights into the history and formation of our natural satellite.
On June 1, a grab-and-go mission named Chang’e-6 touched down in Apollo crater, which sits inside the much larger South Pole–Aitken basin, the biggest meteor impact site in the solar system.
During its two-day stay, Chang’e-6 used a scoop and drill to snag to 2 kilograms of lunar material, which was then loaded into an ascent vehicle that rocketed into lunar orbit on June 3. The samples onboard Chang’e-6 will be transferred to a return vehicle that will blast
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