China said its lunar spacecraft unfurled the country's red and gold flag for the first time on the far side of the moon before part of the vehicle blasted off yesterday with rock and soil samples to bring back to Earth.
The mission was hailed as a success in China, which has made significant advances in a space program that aims to put a person on the moon before the end of the decade.
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The Chang'e-6 probe was launched last month and its lander touched down on the far side of the moon on Sunday. Its ascender lifted off yesterday morning at 7.38am, as it entered a preset orbit around the moon, the China National Space Administration said.
The agency said the spacecraft withstood a high temperature test on the lunar surface, and acquired the samples using both drilling and surface collection before stowing them in a container as planned.
The container will be transferred to a reentry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China's Inner Mongolia region around June 25.
The small flag, which the agency said was made of special composite materials, emerged on a retractable arm deployed from the side of the lunar lander and was not placed onto the lunar soil, according to an animation released by the agency.
Also, a mark was left on the lunar surface that resembled the Chinese character Zhong, state media reported.
Zhong is the first part of Zhongguo, the Chinese-language name for China. It can also mean center in Chinese.
"There is a Chinese character on the back of the moon," broadcaster CCTV posted on Weibo. "The moon's surface now shows a 'Zhong' character."
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying wrote on X: "Mission accomplished! An unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history!"
Missions to the moon's far side are more difficult because it does not face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
Xinhua news agency said the probe's landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater created more than four billion years ago that is 13 kilometers deep and has a diameter of 2,500km.
It is the oldest and largest of such craters on the moon, so may provide the earliest information about it, Xinhua said, adding that the huge impact may have ejected materials from deep below the surface.ASSOCIATED PRESS, BLOOMBERG
