BEIJING, JUNE 2 :   China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe landing module has successfully landed on the back side of the Moon to collect soils, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday, citing the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

On May 3, the CNSA said that China’s carrier rocket Long March-5 Y8 with the Chang’e-6 lunar probe had been launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island into the Earth-Moon transit orbit. If the mission is successful, the Chang’e-6 will deliver soil from the back side of the Moon to Earth for the first time in human history. About two kilograms (four pounds) of soil samples will be delivered to Earth, the CNSA added.

Chang’e-6 consists of an orbital module, a reentry vehicle, a descent vehicle and a launch module. The probe is equipped with payloads including a landing camera, a panoramic camera, a mineral spectral analysis instrument and a lunar soil structure analysis device.

The lunar probe is carrying international payloads, including French detector DORN for measuring the concentration of radon gas and its decay products on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite, the European Space Agency’s NILS negative ion analyzer, Italy’s laser corner reflector and Pakistan’s ICUBE-Q satellite.