China says its uncrewed craft has successfully landed on the far side of the Moon - an unexplored place almost no-one tries to go.

The Chang'e 6 touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 06:23 Beijing time on Sunday morning (22:23 GMT Saturday), the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

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Launched on 3 May, the mission aims to collect precious rock and soil from this region for the first time in history.

The probe could extract some of the Moon's oldest rocks from a huge crater on its South Pole.

The landing was fraught with risks, because it is very difficult to communicate with spacecraft once they reach the far side of the Moon. China is the only country to have achieved the feat before, landing its Chang'e-4 in 2019.

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After launching from Wenchang Space Launch Center, the Chang'e 6 spacecraft had been orbiting the Moon waiting to land.

The lander component of the mission then separated from the orbiter to touch down on the side of the Moon that faces permanently away from Earth.

During the descent, an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system was used to automatically detect obstacles, with a visible light camera selecting a comparatively safe landing area based on the brightness and darkness of the lunar surface, the CNSA was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.

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The lander hovered about 100m (328ft) above the safe landing area, and used a laser 3D scanner before a slow vertical descent.

The operation was supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the CNSA said.

Chinese state media described the successful landing as an “historic moment”.

The state broadcaster said “applause erupted at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center” when the Chang’e landing craft touched down on the Moon early on Sunday morning.

The lander should spend up to three days gathering materials from the surface in an operation the CNSA said would involve "many engineering innovations, high risks and great difficulty".

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"Everyone is very excited that we might get a look at these rocks no-one has ever seen before," explains Professor John Pernet-Fisher, who specialises in lunar geology at the University of Manchester.

He has analysed other lunar rock brought back on the American Apollo mission and previous Chinese missions.

But he says the chance to analyse rock from a completely different area of the Moon could answer fundamental questions about how planets form.

Most of the rocks collected so far are volcanic, similar to what we might find in Iceland or Hawaii.

But the material on the far side would have a different chemistry .

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Labour’s leader says his party’s green energy plans will ensure the UK’s transition away from oil and gas does not repeat mistakes from the phase-out of coal.( )

The party has been accused of putting jobs at risk by vowing not to issue any new oil and gas licences if it wins power at July’s general election.

The SNP says the proposals, along with Labour's plan to hike taxes on firms' profits, would put thousands of Scottish jobs at risk.

But Sir Keir Starmer argued his party's plans for a new green investment firm would safeguard replacement jobs for generations to come.

Labour wants to set up a new public company, branded Great British Energy, to be headquartered in Scotland.( )

It would not generate energy itself, but would invest public money in projects like offshore wind farms and solar panels - which the party says would help secure domestic supplies and cut bills for consumers.

Labour wants to hand the company £8.3bn over the next five years for investments, funded by a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies.( )

The government already has such a tax, recently extended until 2029, but Labour would charge a higher rate and close some tax allowances for investment.

The party has said initial investments would focus on wind and solar projects, with new technologies such as floating offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage also eligible for funding.

It hopes that each pound of public investment would trigger a further £3 in private-sector funding for projects.( )

At the same time, Labour says it would not issue new licences for oil and gas projects, which are largely based in Scotland.

It has specified that it would honour existing licences, but the plan has prompted warnings from the SNP, as well as unions, that jobs would be put at risk.( )

The SNP has also attacked Labour's plans to get existing nuclear plans in England over the line, adding it would be done using "Scotland's energy wealth".

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