China Prepares Its First Asteroid Landing on Earth’s Quasi-Moon

A Chinese probe is set for a historic touchdown on asteroid Kamoʻoalewa, which may have been blasted away from Earth’s Moon millions of years ago after a violent impact. China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft launched on May 29, 2025, beginning its year-long journey to the near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at the asteroid in early July, snatch a sample from Kamo’oalewa, and send it back to Earth in a capsule. If successful, the mission will mark China’s first asteroid sample return mission. The sample will help confirm the origin of the asteroid and piece together clues from the early history of the solar system. Kamo’oalewa was first discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakalā, Hawaii. The space rock measures in at 131 to 328 feet (40 to 100 meters), about the size of the Statue of Liberty. Kamo’oalewa does not inhabit the solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but instead orbits the Sun at a much closer distance to Earth than other asteroids (at around 9 million miles away from our planet). Following its discovery, Kamo’oalewa (which translates to “oscillating celestial object” in Hawaiian) was found to orbit th