China set to launch high-stakes mission to Moon’s hidden’ side

China will send a robotic spacecraft in the coming days on a round trip to the Moon's far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole.

Since the first Chang'e mission in 2007, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, China has made leaps forward in its lunar exploration, narrowing the technological chasm with the United States and Russia.

In 2020, China brought back samples from the Moon's near side in the first sample retrieval in more than four decades, confirming for the first time that it could safely return an uncrewed spacecraft to Earth from the lunar surface.

This week, China is expected to launch Chang'e-6 using the backup spacecraft from the 2020 mission, and collect soil and rocks from the side of the Moon that permanently faces away from Earth.

With no direct line of sight with the Earth, Chang'e-6 must rely on a recently deployed relay satellite orbiting the Moon during its 53-day mission, including a never-beforeattempted ascent from the Moon's "hidden" side on its return journey home.