China’s Chang’e spacecraft is first-ever to land on Moon’s dark side: Everything to know

With its Chang'e 4 mission, China has possibly become the first country to make a soft landing, which is a landing of a spacecraft during which no serious damage is incurred.

Chinese spacecraft makes first landing on moon's far side — In this photo provided January 3, 2019, by China National Space Administration, the first image of the moon’s far side taken by China’s Chang’e-4 probe. (China National Space Administration/Xinhua News Agency via AP)

A Chinese lunar probe named Chang’e-4 made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon, state media said. China’s landing on the Dark side of the moon is being hailed as a historic mission which is being seen as an important step for China’s space programme. This is the first spacecraft ever to land on this side of the moon.

The landing “lifted the mysterious veil” from the far side of the moon, and “opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration”, the state broadcaster CCTV told Reuters. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the moon, but none has landed on it. The far side of the moon faces away from Earth and is relatively unexplored. It is also known as the dark side of the moon.

Earlier, the successful landing had sparked confusion when state-run media China Daily and CGTN deleted their tweets confirming the success of the mission, The Guardian reported. Two hours later, the state broadcaster CCTV confirmed the news that the lunar explorer Chang’e 4 touched down at 10:26 am at the top of its noon news broadcast.