China and the Dark Side of the Moon

(Reuters) A Chinese space probe successfully touched down on the far side of the moon on Thursday Chinas space agency said hailing the event as a historic first and a major achievement for the countrys space program. The Change-4 lunar probe launched in December made the soft landing" at 0226 GMT and transmitted the first-ever close range" image of the far side of the moon the China National Space Administration said. The moon is tidally locked to Earth rotating at the same rate as it orbits our planet so most of the far side - or dark side" - is never visible to us. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side but none has landed on it The landing lifted the mysterious veil" of the far side of the moon and opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration" the agency said in a statement on its website which included a wide-angle color picture of a crater from the moons surface.