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Better get ready to eat those words. China announced that they have done something which lands them in the spatial big leagues: Landing on the Moon’s far side – twice. And bringing samples back, which no one has done.<\/p>\n
China successfully landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon on Sunday morning, the country\u2019s space agency announced, taking the mission one step closer to bringing back the first sample from the part of the moon that earthlings never see.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e-6, named after the Chinese moon goddess, is the second mission to have touched down on the far side of the moon. Its predecessor, Chang\u2019e-4, made history as the first to do so in 2019.<\/p>\n
The far side of the moon is distinct from the near side, where the United States, China and what was then the Soviet Union have gathered samples. It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. It\u2019s unclear why the two sides of the moon are so different; the samples collected by Chang\u2019e-6 could provide some clues.<\/p>\n
The South Pole-Aitken basin, a massive impact crater about 1,600 miles wide, is among the largest in the history of the solar system, and the impact that created it is thought to have dug up material from the lunar mantle. That material, if it can be retrieved, could help scientists learn more about the history of the moon\u2019s insides.<\/p>\n
The country has successfully launched a mission to Mars and has plans for a future visit to an asteroid. It also aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation to do so after the United States.NY Times<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sounds to me that they can claim to be a space peer. Actually, given we have to contract our space lift, I’m not sure whether we are still considered their<\/em> peer. I can tell you this, anyone who lived through the ’60s would never have predicted this then.<\/p>\n
The article notes that Japan also sent up a lunar lander this year which lost power 3 miles above the Moon – fear not, in 1\/6 Terran gravity it is only the equivalent of crashing from a 1\/2 mile up on Earth. Oh, wait…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"