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SCIENCE

The Claim

China has successfully landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

China's far-side lunar landings are among the most well-documented space achievements of the past decade. Chang'e-4 soft-landed in the Von Kármán crater on January 3, 2019 — a world first — and Chang'e-6 followed with a second far-side landing in June 2024, also returning samples to Earth. These events are confirmed by Chinese state sources, major international wire services, and Western science media, with no credible dispute from any space agency or scientific body.

Caveats

  • The claim uses the singular 'a spacecraft,' but China has actually completed two far-side landings: Chang'e-4 (2019) and Chang'e-6 (2024), the latter also returning lunar samples to Earth.
  • No other nation has ever soft-landed hardware on the Moon's far side, making China's achievement uniquely significant context the claim does not mention.

The Receipts

  1. China declares Chang'e-4 mission complete success - CNSA

    CNSA

  2. 成功着陆！嫦娥六号将开始世界首次月背“挖宝” - 中华人民共和国国防部

    中华人民共和国国防部

  3. China's Chang'e-4 probe makes historic landing on moon's far side

    Xinhua

  4. China's Chang'e-6 mission lands on the far side of the moon

    China National Space Administration (CNSA) via YouTube

  5. 中国成功实现人类探测器首次月背软着陆 - 新华网

    新华网

  6. China returns samples from the moon's far side in historic 1st (video) - Space

    Space.com

  7. China lands on moon's far side in historic mission

    Reuters

  8. China lands Chang'e 6 sample-return probe on far side of the moon

    Space.com

  9. See China's Chang'e-6 land on far side of the moon in ... - YouTube

    Space.com

  10. Why is the moon's far side so weird? China's lunar sample ... - Space

    Space.com

+ 4 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

China

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