China spacecraft Chang’e-6 first to collect samples from far side of the moon
A Chinese spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after becoming the first ever probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon.
The Chang’e-6 lifted off just after 12.30am UK time on Tuesday to begin its journey home, according to the China National Space Administration.
Officials said it had been successful in collecting rocks and soil – by using a drill and robotic arm to dig below the lunar surface.
After completing the task, the probe unveiled a Chinese flag.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Mission accomplished!
“An unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history!”
The Chang’e-6 on the lunar surface. Pic: China National Space Administration via AP
The spacecraft was launched last month and touched down on Sunday.
Its re-entry capsule is due to land in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region on 25 June.
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Missions to the moon’s far side, which permanently faces away from the Earth, are more difficult because a relay satellite is required to maintain communications.
The surface is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
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From Sunday: China lands craft on lunar surface
China’s Xinhua News Agency said the landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin – an impact crater eight miles deep and 1,500 miles wide – which is thought to have been created more than four billion years ago.
It is the oldest and largest such crater on the moon, so could provide significant information because the original impact may have ejected materials from deep below its surface.
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The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration programme, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess.
It is also China’s second trip to the far side of the moon, with its craft Chang’e-4 becoming the first to successfully land there in 2019.
A view of the surface taken from the probe. Pic: Xinhua News Agency /AP
The mission comes amid a growing space rivalry among countries including China, India, Japan and the US.
Beijing aims to put a person on the moon by 2030, while US agency NASA hopes to achieve the feat again in September 2026.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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