China’s Chang’e-6 Done Collecting Moon Rocks on Far Side, Heads Home

The ascender of Chang’e-6 has finished its collection work on the far side of the Moon and lifted off with its gathered material. It will then meet up with the orbiter in order to begin its journey back to Earth. While there are still some “nail-biters” left, so far it looks like a flawless mission. While Chang’e-6 cannot be in direct contact with the ground station and was occasionally out of touch with the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the amount of autonomous control has been remarkable for the number of scientific and technological firsts on the far side.