China’s Chang’e 4 lunar probe sends first photo of far side of the moon after historic soft landing

The soft landing by Chang’e 4 marks the start of a historic survey of a lunar region that has never been explored

SOURCE: South China Morning Post Thursday, 03 January, 2019, by Catherine Wong

China’s space programme made history this morning when its Chang’e 4 lunar spacecraft successfully touched down on the moon’s far side, which has never been explored.

The lunar lander and rover spacecraft completed the world’s first soft-landing on the uncharted far side at 10.26am Hong Kong time, near the moon’s south pole, before taking the first photograph of that part of the moon.

Chang’e 4 was launched atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket on December 8 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It entered lunar orbit four days later.

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