China has launched a probe to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, in what is being billed a world first, the BBC reports.
An unmanned rocket carrying the Chang’e-6 probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center at about 17:27 local time (10:27 BST).
The 53-day mission aims to bring around two kilograms of lunar samples to Earth for analysis.
It will try to re-launch from the side of the moon facing away from Earth.
This is described as the dark side of the Moon because it is invisible from Earth, not because it does not catch the sun’s rays.
It has a thicker, older crust with more craters, which are less covered by ancient lava flows than the near side.
This may make it more possible to collect material that helps shed light on how the Moon was formed, scientists hope.
