China is doing it .. First landing in history on the dark side of the moon

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese probe successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, marking the first historic landing, a mission seen as an important move in China's space program, state media reported.

The lunar probe Chang E-4, launched in December, fell smoothly around 02:26 GMT and the first close-up image of the dark side of the moon was reported, state television reported.

Chinese television said the landing exposed the ambiguity surrounding the far side of the moon and "opened a new page in the history of human discovery of the moon."

The moon's motion is linked to the movement of the planet, as the moon orbits as fast as our planet, which means that its distant or "dark" side can never be seen from Earth.
The moon's motion is linked to the movement of the planet, as the moon orbits as fast as our planet, which means that its distant or "dark" side can never be seen from Earth.

Other spacecraft have seen the far side of the moon, but none have landed on it.

A Long March-3B rocket was launched last December carrying the probe, as well as a landing craft and a mobile vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.China's National Space Administration said the probe's missions included low-frequency radio astronomy, surface and surface surveying, metal composition detection, neutron radiation measurement and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon.

China is trying to catch up with Russia and the United States to become a major space power by 2030. It plans to launch a new manned space station next year.

While China insists its ambitions are purely peaceful, the US Department of Defense accuses it of pursuing activities aimed at preventing other countries from using space-based equipment at a time of crisis.