The moon has been the object of human fascination —and scientific observation—for centuries.

The moon has been the object of human fascination
—and scientific observation—for centuries. Although
from our perspective it does not appear to spin, in
reality the moon rotates about every 27 days, which
is about the same amount of time it takes to orbit
the Earth once. During this whole process, we can
see only about 59 percent of the moon’s surface,
while the other 41 percent—known as the “dark
side” of the moon—is concealed from our view.
Soon after the Soviet satellite Sputnik became the
first spacecraft to orbit Earth in 1957, both the
Soviet and U.S. space programs began focusing on
the next great objective: the moon. The Soviet
Union initially had more success, as its first two
Luna probes made the first escape from Earth’s
gravity and the first lunar impact in 1959. That
same year, Luna 3 achieved another first, taking a
photographic survey of the moon’s far side. Despite
their grainy quality, these early images revealed that
the previously unseen hemisphere had few of the
smooth, dark spots that we observe on the moon’s
surface. Scientists initially mistook these volcanic
plains for lunar seas, and called them maria (from
the Latin word for sea).
Since then, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) has collected tens of
thousands of images of the far side of the moon,
which has allowed them to make better predictions
about what that distant surface might look like.
But in 2016, China’s growing space program
announced its plans to make a historic landing on
the far side of the moon. Since 2003, when the
country launched its first astronaut, the multibillion-
dollar space program run by the Chinese military
has been right on schedule with achieving the
landmarks it set for itself.
In late 2013, the unmanned spacecraft Chang’e 3
made a soft landing on the lunar surface, making
China the third nation (after the United States and
the former USSR) to reach the moon. The rover Yutu
or “Jade Rabbit,” which deployed from Chang’e 3
after the landing, discovered a new type of basaltic
rock during its exploration of a volcanic crater in
the Mare Imbrium (what we see as the right “eye”
of the “Man in the Moon”).
Despite such advances in lunar knowledge, the
Chinese space program began by repeating feats
that its U.S. and Soviet counterparts achieved
decades ago. But the Chang’e 4 mission to make a
soft landing on the far side of the moon represents
a first in the history of space exploration.
As Liu Jizhong, dean of China’s Lunar Exploration &
Aerospace Engineering Center, told Agence France-
Presse at the time: “The implementation of the
Chang’e 4 mission has helped our country make the
leap from following to leading.”
Launched on December 7, 2018, the Chang’e 4
arrived in lunar orbit five days later, and began
lowering itself toward the moon. After its successful
landing, it will explore the so-called Von Kármán
crater within the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin. The
basin itself is the largest known impact crater on
the moon, and one of the largest in the entire solar
system. The distance from its depths to the tops of
the highest surrounding peaks measures some 15
km (or eight miles), almost twice the height of
Mount Everest.
In addition to taking pictures and soil samples, the
space probe is also set to plant a mini-garden on
the moon. According to Chinese state news agency
Xinhua, it is carrying six live species from Earth,
including cotton, potato, rapeseed, yeast and a
flowering plant called arabidopsis, which may
produce the first flower to grow on the Moon.
TAGS · MOON · SPACE EXPLORATION
BY SARAH PRUITT
China
Makes
Historic
Landing
on 'Dark
Side ' of
the Moon
SARAH PRUITT
NASA via Getty Images
An image taken by China's Chang'e-4 probe after its
landing on the far side of the moon on January 3,
2019, becoming the first spacecraft soft-landing on
the moon's uncharted side never visible from Earth.
China National Space Administration /Xinhua News
Agency/Jin Liwang/Getty Images
Photograph of the far side