Chinese spacecraft becomes first EVER to touch down on dark side of the moon
.....and if your head explodes with dark forebodings too.....I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
Chinese spacecraft becomes first EVER to touch down on dark side of the moon as it transmits never-before-seen 'close range' images after making historic landing
A Chinese spacecraft has made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon as it transmitted a never-before-seen image of the unexplored surface.
Lunar explorer Chang'e-4 touched down at 10.26am local time (2.26am GMT), state media reported, and took the 'close range' photograph in a global first.
While stationed on the moon, the Chang'e-4 will attempt to recce the famous Von Karman crater in the Aitken basin, the largest impact crater in the entire solar system at eight miles (13 km) deep and 1,600 miles (2,500 km) in diameter.
It will also be tasked with carrying out mineral and radiation tests, presenting scientists with the first-ever chance to examine materials from the far side of the moon.
The far side of the moon - colloquially known as the dark side - actually gets as much light as the near side but always faces away from Earth.
This relatively unexplored region is mountainous and rugged, making a successful landing much harder to achieve.
It appears to take on a reddish hue in some of the images released by China, seemingly an effect of the lights used by the probe.
The pioneering landing demonstrates China's growing ambitions to rival the US as a space power, with Beijing hoping to send another probe next year that will retrieve samples and bring them back to Earth.