On Tuesday, its Chang'e-6 lunar probe successfully returned to Earth carrying the first-ever samples from the moon's far side. They signify China's growing prowess in orbit, as well as its potential to someday leapfrog the US in the race to dominate space. The moon's far sideThe moon's far side is considered particularly challenging to explore because of its craters and the difficulty of maintaining communications with vehicles landing there. The latest mission, which launched on May 3, is China's second successful landing on the moon's far side, with the first launched in 2019. The space race heats upChina is now rivaling the US and Russia as a leading space power.

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Persons: —, Astrobiotic, Simone Dell'Agnello, Xi Jinping, Bill Nelson, it's Organizations: Service, Earth, Business, NASA, Wall Street, Analysts, Pentagon Locations: China, Mongolia, Russia