President stresses significance of Chang'e missions

President Xi Jinping greets representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang'e 6 lunar mission, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday. XIE HUANCHI/XINHUA

China will continue strengthening cooperation and exchanges with the international space community and sharing its capabilities and findings with other countries, President Xi Jinping said on Monday as he met representatives involved in the historic Chang'e 6 lunar mission.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that outer space is a shared domain of humans, and space exploration is a common cause of humanity.

China's lunar exploration program always seeks equal, win-win cooperation and the peaceful use of lunar resources, the president said, adding that it belongs to both the Chinese people and all of humankind.

He said that the Chang'e missions have been creating and offering huge potential and opportunities for international science and technology collaboration, and have also been contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to the global endeavor to explore deep space.

At a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with representatives of space officials, mission planners, scientists, engineers and technicians who worked on Chang'e 6, Xi called for the continued strengthening of international space cooperation and exchanges of different forms.

He also emphasized the need for China to share its capabilities and findings with other countries, and work with others to improve the governance of outer space, in order to use achievements in space science and technology to bring more benefits to the human race.

Speaking about Chang'e 6, he said that the 53-day mission brought the first-ever samples back to Earth from the far side of the moon. The lunar adventure has become an iconic accomplishment in China's efforts to make itself a global power in the space industry as well as in the fields of science and technology. It has also become the latest milestone in the country's lunar program, he noted.

Saying that space exploration has no end, Xi encouraged all of those engaged in China's space industry to make the best use of lunar samples for research, and continue to work hard on deep-space exploration and other major space projects so they can make comprehensive advances in space science, technology and applications to make new contributions to building a space power.

Xi stressed the need to promote the lunar program workers' spirit throughout the whole of society in order to further enhance the Chinese people's confidence and pride in comprehensively promoting the construction of a powerful country and the great cause of national rejuvenation.

After the meeting, Xi and other top leaders visited an exhibition at the Great Hall of the People about the Chang'e 6 samples and the nation's lunar missions.

The Chang'e 6 mission, representing the world's first attempt to bring samples from the far side of the moon, was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on May 3 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province.

After a host of sophisticated steps, the Chang'e 6 lander touched down at the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest-known impact craters in the solar system, on the morning of June 2.

The landing marked the second time a spacecraft ever arrived on the lunar far side. The vast region had never been reached by any spacecraft until January 2019, when the Chang'e 4 probe landed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Chang'e 4 surveyed areas surrounding its landing site, but did not collect or send back lunar samples.

The lander worked for 49 hours on the moon's far side, using a mechanical arm and a drill to collect surface and underground materials.

The mission successfully brought back a total of 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples from the far side.

The samples have unique scientific value and will further expand humans' knowledge about the moon's history and help to gear up the exploration and exploitation of lunar resources, according to the China National Space Administration.