Image: CNSA
Chang'e 6
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2024-05-03 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Wenchang Space Launch Center, Hainan Island, China |
| Launch vehicle | Long March 5 (Y8) |
| Spacecraft | Four-element stack: orbiter, lander, ascender, return capsule (relayed via Queqiao-2) |
| Target | Moon |
| Type | Robotic |
| End date | 2024-06-25 |
| Recovery | Return capsule landed at Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, China |
| Landing site | 41.6385°S, 153.9852°W (southern mare of Apollo crater, South Pole – Aitken basin, lunar far side) |
| Surface stay | ~49 hours (1 – 3 June 2024) |
| Mass | ~8,200 kg launch stack; 1,935.3 g samples returned |
| Duration | 53 days end-to-end; ~49 hours on lunar surface |
| Partners | CNSA (lead), CAST (spacecraft), ESA / France / Italy / Pakistan (payloads), Chinese Academy of Sciences (sample curation) |
| Instruments | Lunar Mineralogical Spectrometer (LMS), Lunar Regolith Penetrating Radar, Panoramic + descent cameras, DORN (France, radon), NILS (ESA, neutron), INRRI (Italy, retroreflector), ICUBE-Q (Pakistan, orbital cubesat) |
Overview
Chang'e 6 became the first mission to return samples from the lunar far side, landing in the southern Apollo crater within the South Pole – Aitken basin on 1 June 2024 and returning 1,935.3 grams of regolith and rock to Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024 — a 53-day end-to-end campaign. The mission required the prior launch of Queqiao-2 (20 March 2024) to provide continuous Earth – Moon relay coverage of the far side, where direct line-of-sight communication is geometrically impossible. The four-element architecture — orbiter, lander, ascender, return capsule — mirrored Chang'e 5's near-side success but executed it over a region of the Moon humanity had never before touched. After 49 hours of surface operations during which the lander collected both scoop (surface) and drill (subsurface to approximately one meter) samples, the ascender lifted off, rendezvoused with the orbiter in lunar orbit, transferred the sealed sample container, and the return capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere over Inner Mongolia on 25 June. The returned material has already overturned a major assumption: the basalt returned from Apollo crater is dated to approximately 2.83 billion years old, evidence that far-side volcanism continued far later than scientists had inferred from remote sensing. Chang'e 6 also flew international payloads from ESA (NILS radiation monitor), France (DORN radon detector), Italy (INRRI laser retroreflector), and Pakistan (ICUBE-Q lunar orbiter) — a quiet diplomatic counter to Artemis Accords lockout.
Mission Objectives
Achieve the first sample return from the lunar far side
achieved
Land in Apollo crater within the South Pole – Aitken basin
achieved
Acquire both scoop (surface) and drill (subsurface ~1 m) samples
achieved
Demonstrate Queqiao-2 relay communications for far-side surface operations
achieved
Deploy international payloads from ESA, France, Italy, and Pakistan
achieved
Vehicle Specifications
Total launch stack
- Mass
- ~8,200 kg
Atop Long March 5 (Y8) from Wenchang.
Lander
- Mass
- ~3,200 kg
Wet mass at launch; carried scoop and drill sampling systems.
Ascender
- Mass
- ~700 kg
Lunar liftoff stage; first lunar ascent from the far side in history.
Orbiter + service module
- Mass
- ~3,800 kg
Includes return capsule and Earth-return propulsion.
Return capsule
- Mass
- ~300 kg
Re-entry module — landed at Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia.
Sample returned
- Mass
- 1,935.3 g
Combined scoop + drill core mass announced by CNSA.
Key Milestones
2024-03-20
Queqiao-2 relay satellite launched — prerequisite for far-side surface operations
2024-05-03
Launch on Long March 5 (Y8) from Wenchang at 09:27 UTC
2024-05-08
Lunar orbit insertion
2024-06-01
Soft landing in Apollo crater at 22:23 UTC
2024-06-03
Ascender liftoff from far side at 23:38 UTC — first far-side lunar ascent
2024-06-06
Ascender-orbiter rendezvous and sample transfer in lunar orbit
2024-06-25
Return capsule lands in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia
Key Achievements
First sample return from the lunar far side in history (1,935.3 g)
First flag deployment by any nation on the lunar far side
Returned 2.83-billion-year-old basalt — evidence of younger far-side volcanism than previously assumed
Demonstrated the Queqiao-2 relay architecture for sustained far-side operations
First international cooperative payloads on a Chinese lunar lander (ESA, France, Italy, Pakistan)
Validated the full Long March 5 + ascender + orbital-rendezvous chain for Chang'e 7/8 and ILRS
Photo Gallery
Legacy & Significance
Chang'e 6 closed the loop on a question 60 years in the asking: what is the far side made of? By returning ancient basalts from the SPA basin — the largest, oldest, deepest impact structure in the inner solar system — China handed planetary scientists a calibration anchor for the entire chronology of lunar bombardment. The 2.83-Gyr basalt finding overturned the assumption that far-side volcanism shut down early. Operationally, Chang'e 6 proved the four-element architecture (orbiter + lander + ascender + return capsule) and the Queqiao relay constellation that Chang'e 7 (south pole, 2026) and Chang'e 8 (ISRU demo, 2028) will inherit, en route to the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) crewed base by ~2035. It also marked the first time Pakistan, France, Italy, Sweden, and ESA flew instruments on a Chinese deep-space mission.
