China Lunar Sample Return Mission Chang’E-6 Prepares for NET May Launch to Moon Far Side
CNSA Chang’E-6 Moon spacecraft (orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry module – totaling 8,200-kg launch mass) now at Wenchang, Hainan undergoing pre-launch tests ahead of 53-day mission to collect 2 kg of lunar regolith from Apollo crater within South Pole-Aitken Basin (~43°S, 154°W), expected to launch in May; International payloads include Detection of Outgassing Radon (DORN, France), INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations (INRRI, Italy), Negative Ions on Lunar Surface (NILS, Sweden) and iCUBE-Q 3U Cube Sat (Pakistan); Chang’E-6 is the world’s first attempt at lunar far side sample retrieval