Chang'e 6 in the context of Apollo (crater)

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on 14 September, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609. The mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations.

Human exploration of the Moon since Luna 2 has consisted of both crewed and uncrewed missions. NASA's Apollo program has been the only program to successfully land humans on the Moon, which it did six times on the near side in the late 20th century. The first human landing took place in 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong touched down on the surface in the region of Mare Tranquillitatis, leaving scientific instruments upon the mission's completion and returning lunar samples to Earth. All lunar missions had taken place on the lunar near side until the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon was made by the CNSA robotic spacecraft Chang'e 4 in early 2019, which successfully deployed the Yutu-2 robotic lunar rover. On 25 June 2024, CNSA's Chang'e 6 conducted the first lunar sample return from the far side of the Moon.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is the national space agency of China. Headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, it is responsible for China's civil space programs and international space cooperation. The CNSA is a national bureau under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Founded in 1993, the CNSA has pioneered a number of achievements in space for China despite its relatively short history, including becoming the first space agency to land on the far side of the Moon with Chang'e 4, bringing material back from the Moon with Chang'e 5 and 6, and being the second agency who successfully landed a rover on Mars with Tianwen-1. Tianwen-2 is en route to explore the co-orbital near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and the active asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS and collecting samples of the regolith of Kamo'oalewa.