FILE: Wenchang City, Hainan Province, south China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of rocket blasting off

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. Various of animation showing spacecraft performing task, lunar probe landing

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. SOUNBITE (Chinese) Meng Zhanfeng, engineer, China Academy of Space Technology (starting with shot 2/ending with shot 4):
"The Chang'e-6 lunar probe will land in the South Pole-Aitken basin, where it will collect lunar soil samples and then launch into lunar orbit before entering Earth's orbit. After a series of orbit transfers and returns, Chang'e-6 will safely bring the lunar samples back to China in approximately one and a half months."

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of animation showing spacecraft, lunar probe carrying out mission

In Space - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Lunar probe executing task

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of animation showing spacecraft, lunar probe carrying out mission

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. SOUNBITE (Chinese) Meng Zhanfeng, engineer, China Academy of Space Technology (ending with shots 8-9):
"The sampling process is complex and fraught with difficulties, requiring the support of the relay satellite. In late January, Chang'e-6 arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, where it is currently undergoing thorough preparation and testing, with a launch scheduled for the first half of 2024."

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Animation showing spacecraft orbiting around moon

Wenchang City, Hainan Province, south China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Various of engineers at work

China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of animation showing spacecraft in orbit

China plans to launch Queqiao-2, a relay satellite designed to enable communications between the far side of the moon and the Earth, alongside the Chang'e-6 lunar probe to collect the world's first samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin in 2024.

This initiative, part of the accelerated fourth phase of China's lunar exploration program, was detailed in the Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities 2023 released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation on Monday.

"The Chang'e-6 lunar probe will land in the South Pole-Aitken basin, where it will collect lunar soil samples and then launch into lunar orbit before entering Earth's orbit. After a series of orbit transfers and returns, Chang'e-6 will safely bring the lunar samples back to China in approximately one and a half months," said Meng Zhanfeng, an engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology.

Unlike previous missions that sampled the near side of the moon, direct communications between Chang'e-6 and the Earth will be lost when Chang'e-6 undertakes its sampling task. During this critical phase, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite will play a vital role in maintaining communications between Chang'e-6 and Earth.

"The sampling process is complex and fraught with difficulties, requiring the support of the relay satellite. In late January, Chang'e-6 arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, where it is currently undergoing thorough preparation and testing, with a launch scheduled for the first half of 2024," said Meng.