China announced that the Chang’e-6 spacecraft, which it sent on May 3 to collect 2 kilograms of samples from the dark side of the Moon for 3 days, successfully landed in the South Pole-Aitken basin on the dark side of the Moon. The landing, which officials described as a “historic moment” as valuable rocks and soil would be collected from this region for the first time, was celebrated with applause at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

The samples to be collected will be sent to Earth in a special capsule and will first be analyzed by Chinese scientists, and then applications will be received from researchers in other countries that want to examine them.