Beijing. A Chinese spacecraft will return to Earth on Tuesday with samples from the far side of the moon. China launched its 53-day moon mission Chang'e-6. The goal of this Chinese lunar mission was to collect and research samples from the far side of the moon for the first time. This is the first attempt of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration.

The probe is carrying soil and rocks from the side of the moon that faces away from Earth, a region that is little understood and which scientists say holds great research potential because its rugged features are less smoothed by ancient lava flows than the near side. Beijing has not revealed the spacecraft's estimated arrival time, but experts say it will likely land around noon (0400 GMT) in an open barren plain of desert in the northern Inner Mongolia region.

A drill was used to collect samples

The probe's return to Earth means the material it retrieves could help us understand how the moon formed and how it evolved over time. Chang'e-6 took off from a space center on the island province of Hainan on May 3 and landed in the moon's vast South Pole-Aitken basin about a month later. The probe used a drill and robotic arm to collect samples, took some pictures of the pockmarked surface and planted a Chinese flag in the brown soil.