'Back to the Far Side': It's a long story, but hear me out

Sun Ye is a CGTN reporter who covers China's space development. She contributed to "Back to the Far Side."

I might be biased, but "Back to the Far Side" could be the best documentary ever made about the Chang'e-6 mission.

OK, full disclosure: I was part of the team that made this 50-minute film – watch and see if you agree with me. However, I'd argue that it's precisely because I know how this film was put together that makes my opinion valid.

By now, the facts about the Chang'e-6 mission are well known. It was the world's first attempt to gather lunar soil samples from the far side of the moon. And it was a complete success. The probe was launched in early May, and after 53 days it returned to Earth with 1935.3 grams of samples. It carried four payloads from international agencies, each of which reported major breakthroughs.

The probe traveled roughly 760,000 kilometers on its roundtrip to visit our celestial neighbor. For the production team behind "Back to the Far Side," it was also a journey of extremes, starting at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in the mostly tropical Hainan Island and ending at the landing site at Siziwangqi, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where thick-wooled sheep are known to roam. We also clocked up the mileage, as filming took us to such far-flung places as Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan; Rome, Italy; Toulouse, France; Noordwijk, the Netherlands, and many more destinations.

In addition to the long flights and car rides, we also had to endure long working hours, while our director Chen Yilin needed to maintain a long-term vision. She started on this project in January and spent Chinese New Year with scientists and engineers who were not used to such attention so early in a mission. Those long hours were worth it, too. After a preview, one of the mission's key designers told me that it gave them "an entirely new perspective on what we do."

I've covered a few space rocket launches, so here's how it normally goes. Hours before liftoff, we'll take our place, trying to find that one spot that offers the best angle of the rocket soaring into the sky. Then, as we wait, we'll chat briefly with the scientists and engineers – who are inevitably rushing about making final preparations – about the newest technologies used for the mission.

It's rare for these experts to talk about themselves. Well, not until they've become familiar with a film crew. At one point, our director sent me transcripts of interviews with several key figures. These came with 50 to 100 pages or more of notes about that person's life. Pierre-Yves Meslin from CNRS / IRAP's DORN project had explained why the mission was a "dream come true" for him, and he had the baby pictures to prove it. Deng Xiangjin of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation also reached back to his childhood to analogize how Chang'e-6 was like a rice seedling.

For me, astrophysicist Sylvestre Maurice put it best when he said that the mission was about more than just technology; it was about the humans behind it. That's exactly how I'd describe our film. Our cameras captured many touching moments, with people from around the world coming together to realize a shared dream. Each and every one of them was part of Chang'e-6 – one team, one mind, no matter what language they speak.

I'd like to share with you this moment I enjoyed with my team. This picture was taken in May after a busy day of filming with the DORN team. Each person carved a poem into the sand with a rock. The two poems in this image share the same meaning: We all look up at the same moon.

Although this article is already in danger of being too long, let me lastly add some long-lasting impressions expressed to me by colleagues from around the world during the long production process. If you don't believe me about "Back to the Far Side" being the film to watch about Chang'e-6, perhaps they will convince you.

"What touched me most was seeing the gravity of this experience for them," said Natalie Carney, who helped with shooting in Europe, while Pakistani corespondent Danial Khan praised not only "the technical achievements but the emotional and cultural impact of this collaboration on Pakistan's future in space exploration."

Our producer, Liu Li, warmly described the mission: "A shared vision and mutual support. This is what I'm impressed with by this successful mission."

Producer Wu Lei, who has covered every kind of space adventure, described the experience as "complex, thrilling … It tops many firsts for me."

Our editor Xue Mengchen exclaimed, "This is going to make you want to fight for your dreams."

But I'll leave the final word to our director, Chen Yilin, who said, "I hope you see in this the unity, humanity and dreams."

(Documentary "Back to the Far Side" filming crew also contributed to this article.)