Here is a recent video by CGTN tracing the history of lunar missions - starting with the early Soviet and American missions followed by the Chang'e missions from 2007 to 2024.
Next up -
2026 - Chang'e 7 - Lunar orbiter, lander, rover, and flying probe; in-depth exploration of the lunar south pole to look for resources
2028 - Chang'e 8 - In situ resource utilization (ISRU) + 3D-printing of structures.
2029-30 - Human landing.

youtube.com/watch?v=okdQv1DuCa…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_…
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Chinese lunar space program

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

Chang'e-6's return capsule, containing lunar rock and soil samples, is expected to land in less than 24 hours between 05:41 and 06:11 June 25 UTC (13:41 - 14:11 June 25 Beijing time). The landing area is located in the grasslands of Dorbod Banner (aka Siziwang Banner) in Inner Mongolia.

The capsule will skip off the atmosphere to reduce speed before final entry. The Chang'e-6 returner module will continue on an undisclosed extended mission.

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The Chang'e-6 ascender module successfully docked with the probe's orbiter-returner at 08:48 UTC on Thursday.

The container with lunar soil samples was transferred from the ascender to the returner by 09:24 UTC.

Sample return to earth is scheduled for June 25.

Here is a video of the rendezvous taken by a camera on the orbiter.

youtube.com/watch?v=QuPIJFeKxS…
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Chang'e 6 Ascender and Orbit Return Rendezvous and Sample Transfer Video

From the lunar orbit hardcore blockbuster! Chang'e VI ascender and orbit return combination rendezvous docking and sample transfer video! China Aerospace's W...

^YouTube

The Chang'e 6 ascender has lifted off the lunar surface with its cache of rock and soil samples.

It fired it's 3000N engine at 23:38 UTC June 3. 6 minutes later, it entered a 15 x 180 km x 43 deg lunar orbit. With 4 more orbital maneuvers, it will climb to a 210 km lunar orbit to rendezvous with and transfer the samples to the returner. Sample return to earth is scheduled for June 25.

Here are some clips of its short stay on the far side of the moon.

youtube.com/watch?v=8dug2_hYDw…
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CNSA/CASC releases footage of Chang’e-6 sampling on far side of the moon

Look, look, look more, next time our country's moon sampling, should be when astronauts are digging lunar soil on the moon (sampling) during manned lunar lan...

^YouTube

Chang'e 6 landing site coordinates - 41.64 S, 153.99 W

Here are some images of the site at different zoom levels taken by lunar orbiters.

quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/?camera=…
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Apparently, Chang'e 6 drilling and soil collection operations have already begun on the lunar surface.

Here is a video that shows its drilling, collection and packaging apparatus in action. The video was probably made during lab testing of the Chang'e 6 lander and its soil gathering equipment.

youtube.com/watch?v=-xEnyHAlvY…
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Demo of Chang’e 6 collecting and packaging lunar soils from the far side of the moon

Collecting and packaging samples of surface simulation and demonstration for the table and drill sampling.Source: https://m.weibo.cn/status/Oh7Le8IwJ

^YouTube

Here is footage from the onboard camera of the landing sequence of the Chang'e-6 lander + ascender on the far side of the moon.

With some very appropriate music added 🎶

The Chang’e-6 lunar lander landed in the Apollo crater, located in the South Pole-Aitkin impact basin on the far side of the Moon, on 1 June 2024, at 22:23 UTC (2 June, at 06:23 China Standard Time).

youtube.com/watch?v=KRtdMTUTkt…
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Chang’e-6 landing (Onboard Camera View)

The Chang’e-6 lunar lander landed in the Apollo crater, located in the South Pole-Aitkin impact basin on the far side of the Moon, on 1 June 2024, at 22:23 U...

^YouTube

The Chang'e 6 mission is expected to return lunar samples to earth 53 days after launch.

The lander is powered by solar cells (not an RTG as used by Chang'e 4 which also landed on the far side of the moon). Hence, it is expected to complete its surface mission during the lunar day. We can expect the landing to occur around May 29, since the Sun will rise at the landing site around then, as shown in the graph below of the elevation of the Sun at the site.

spectrum.ieee.org/china-moon-l…
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Let's send our best wishes for the success of the ambitious Chang'e 6 sample return mission to the far side of the moon.

Robotic landing on the moon has turned out to be lot harder than we thought, as evident from the poor success rate in such missions over the past few years. See table below.
🤞
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Here are a few screen shots from the live video of the landing of the Chang'e 6 sample return capsule in the grasslands of Dorbod Banner (aka Siziwang Banner) in Inner Mongolia.

Image descriptions courtesy
@Anke (Thanks!)

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