Which country became the first to bring soil from the dark side of the moon in June 2024 ?
China
China was the first country to bring samples back from the far side of the Moon — option 2.
The mission. Chang’e-6 was launched on 3 May 2024, landed in the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side, and its return capsule brought about 1,935 grams of rock and soil back to Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Mission | Chang’e-6, China |
| Landing site | South Pole-Aitken basin, far side of the Moon |
| Sample returned | About 1,935 g |
| Returned on | 25 June 2024 |
| Earlier | Chang’e-4, 2019 — first soft landing on the far side; Chang’e-5, 2020 — samples from the near side |
Why the far side is difficult. The Moon is tidally locked, so the same hemisphere always faces the Earth and the far side is permanently out of direct radio contact. A mission there needs a relay satellite — China used Queqiao-2, placed in a halo orbit — to pass commands and data. The terrain is also more rugged and heavily cratered, with a much thicker crust and far less of the dark basaltic mare that covers the near side.
Why the samples matter scientifically. The asymmetry between the two hemispheres is one of the outstanding puzzles of lunar science, and the South Pole-Aitken basin is the largest and oldest known impact structure on the Moon, deep enough to have excavated material from the mantle. Samples from it can date the basin, test the theory of a Late Heavy Bombardment, and help explain why the two faces differ so much.
A caution about the phrase “dark side”. The far side is not dark: it receives just as much sunlight as the near side over a lunar month. It is “dark” only in the sense of being unseen from Earth.
Hence, the answer is China.
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