China has become the first nation ever to successfully land a spacecraft the far side the moon. The official China Central Television station announced that the lunar explorer spaceship, Chang'e 4, touched at 10:26am Thursday. Professor Zhu Menghua, Macau University of Science and Technology, said the success the mission was a major milestone for China and established the nation as a pioneer space exploration. He told the New York Times: "We Chinese people have done something that the Americans have not dared try." Sun Zezhou, chief designer Chang'e-4, said: "Landing the far side of the moon is more risky than landing the near side."
The Chang'e-4 probe started sending photographs to Earth soon it landed on the moon's surface. The China National Space Administration said the mission had, "lifted the mysterious veil" the far side of the moon and "opened a new chapter human lunar exploration". Sun Zezhou told reporters about the significance the program. He said it would, "help lay the foundation future space exploration." He added: "A high-precision landing is a necessity further exploring the moon and asteroids. We hope to be able to reach the whole moon and even the whole solar system." China also has plans to launch a returnable spacecraft (Chang'e 5) by 2020.
