China's Chang'e-6 completes docking in lunar orbit with samples safely transferred

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This video animation image displayed at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) on June 6, 2024 shows the ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe rendezvousing and docking with the probe's orbiter-returner combination in lunar orbit. The ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe successfully rendezvoused and docked with the probe's orbiter-returner combination in lunar orbit at 2:48 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Thursday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced. The container carrying the world's first samples from the far side of the moon had been transferred from the ascender to the returner safely by 3:24 p.m., the CNSA said. This is the second time that Chinese spacecraft carried out rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, with Chang'e-5 realizing the first one in 2020. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)