HELSINKI — China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft is on its way to Earth to deliver samples it collected on the far side of the moon.
The Chang’e-6 service module has fired its engines for a trans-Earth flight likely around June 21. The spacecraft is now on the final leg of its complex 53-day journey, which includes a lunar landing, sample collection, ascent and docking. A reentry capsule carrying the unique samples will be released from the service module shortly before arrival on Earth on June 25.
The China National Aeronautics and Space Administration (CNSA) has not released any updated information on the maneuvers that will bring the spacecraft out of lunar orbit and back toward home. However, amateur optical and radio observations indicate that the Chang’e-6 spacecraft is heading toward Earth.
Observations and data from astronomer Bill Gray and others, as well as radio tracking by individuals and groups such as Scott Tilley and AMSAT-DL, provide evidence of Chang’e-6’s activities.
After returning to Earth, the reentry capsule is expected to land at Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia during a half-hour window at 1:41 a.m. Eastern Time (05:41 UTC) on June 25. The information is based on airspace closure notices. The CNSA has not publicly announced the timing of the mission events in advance.
The reentry capsule will first leave the atmosphere to dissipate some of the energy of a high-speed returning probe from the Moon before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
Collecting the samples will enable extensive research into the composition and evolution of the far side of the Moon. The material collected could shed light on why the front and back sides are so different and provide clues to the history of the early solar system.
Mission Milestones
Chang’e-6 launched from Wenchang on a Long March 5 rocket on May 3 and reached lunar orbit less than five days later. The lander-ascent vehicle combination touched down on June 1 at 41.6385° S, 206.0148° E in Apollo Crater in the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin.
The mission’s ascent vehicle lifted off about 49 hours later with up to 2,000 grams of material collected with a shovel and drill. The ascent vehicle docked with the Chang’e-6 service module in lunar orbit on June 6. The mission’s sample container was automatically transferred to the reentry capsule after docking.
The ascent robot left the moon’s orbit a few days later, according to amateur radio tracking. The CNSA has not made a statement on the fate of the ascent robot, but this would be in line with the protocol of the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission.
The Queqiao-2 relay satellite facilitated the mission on the far side of the moon. The spacecraft launched before Chang’e-6 enables communication with the far side of the moon, which never faces the earth due to the Earth’s gravity, which slows the moon’s rotation.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated China on the progress of the mission after the launch of the ascent vehicle.
The head of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, also congratulated the CNSA. He also highlighted the successful cooperation between China and ESA on the Chang’e-6 mission.
These include the successful data collection by the Negative Ions on Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument and the support from the ESA ground station during the early stages of the mission and during the return to Earth. However, ESA-China cooperation in the lunar field may soon come to an end.
Beyond Chang’e-6
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) discovered the Chang’e 6 lander on the rim of an eroded crater in Apollo Crater. LRO photographed the lander on June 7 after the ascent vehicle delivered collected samples to lunar orbit.
The landing was only the second on the far side of the Moon, following the landing of the Chang’e-4 landing and rover mission in 2019. That mission, along with the sample return of Chang’e-5 from the far side, paved the way for Chang’e-6.
After ejecting the reentry module, Chang’e-6 will likely fire its engines to prevent reentry. Depending on fuel reserves, the spacecraft could then be sent on a longer mission. The Chang’e-5 orbiter visited the Sun-Earth system’s Lagrange point 1 before returning to the Moon to test a distant retrograde orbit. External parties again followed Chang’e-5’s extended activities.
China’s next lunar mission will be the Chang’e-7 multiple spacecraft in 2026. The Chang’e-8 in-situ resource utilization and technology testing mission will follow around 2028.
These missions are considered the precursors to the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) led by China. The ILRS is to be built by launching heavy-lift vehicles in the early 2030s. Numerous countries and organizations have already signed up for the project.
Before that, China plans to send a pair of astronauts to the lunar surface before 2030.
| milestone | Description | Date |
| Launch of Queqiao-2 | Launch of a relay satellite to support Chang’e-6 | March 19, 2024 |
| Entering the lunar orbit of Queqiao-2 | Queqiao-2 reaches lunar orbit | March 24 |
| Start of the CE-6 mission | Launch of the Chang’e-6 space probe | May 3 |
| Entering lunar orbit | Space probe reaches lunar orbit | 8th of May |
| Moon landing | Descent and landing on the moon | 1 June |
| Sampling, surface operations | Collection of lunar soil and rock samples | 1 to 3 June |
| Ascent from the lunar surface | Ascent vehicle launches from the moon into lunar orbit | 3rd of June |
| Rendezvous and docking | Ascent vehicle docks with orbiter in lunar orbit | 6th of June |
| Trans-Earth Injection | Maneuvers to send orbiter to Earth | ~21 June |
| Re-entry into Earth and landing | Return capsule re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and lands | Expected June 25 |
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