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 Thursday that China's Chang'e 4 lunar explorer, which launched in early December, "became the first ever probe to soft-land on the far side of the moon." The probe touched down at 10:26 Beijing time, the China Global Television Network said.
The landing "lifted the mysterious veil" from the far side and "opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration," the broadcaster said, 

. (A soft landing is where a lander touches down as gently as possible; it is preferable to a 


The six-wheeled rover landed in the southern section of the Von Kármán crater, near the moon's south pole, Chinese media reported. China's Xinhua News 

 it says was taken by the probe "on the never-visible side of the moon." While photos of the normally hidden far side of the moon have been previously 

, this would be the first image ever captured from the surface.
China's lunar lander is loaded with a variety of cameras and sensors, including ground-penetrating radar to peer beneath the lunar surface, 

 while the probe was en route. "Although Chang'e 4's mission is largely scientific, it is also a key bit of preparation for sending Chinese astronauts to the lunar surface," wrote Palca. 

 have ever set foot on the moon, and all of them were Americans.

The far side of the moon is "actually much more primitive" than the near side, with "really ancient crust that dates back to the very, very early solar system," said Briony Horgan, 

 at Purdue University, previously told NPR.


"There are rocks all over the far side that are over 4 billion years old," she said. "We're really excited to see what those look like up close."

 as the "dark side" of the moon, even though it does get sunlight. Traveling to the far side of the moon presents certain technical challenges — namely, it makes communication harder. Whereas Earth-bound scientists can communicate with the near side using direct radio communication, China 

first had to send a communications relay satellite

 to orbit above the far side of the moon, according to NASA. That satellite, the Queqiao, launched in May and entered orbit around the moon three weeks later.
"Queqiao means 'Bridge of Magpies,' referring to a Chinese folktale about magpies forming a bridge with their wings to allow Zhi Nu, the seventh daughter of the Goddess of Heaven, to reach her husband," NASA wrote.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


A previous version of this story and a photo caption said these are the first photos ever seen of the moon's normally hidden far side. Previous photos have been taken from space. These are the first images captured from the surface.

In addition, Purdue University planetary scientist Briony Horgan's name was misspelled as Briorny.

Science

China's lunar lander, Chang'e 4, successfully touched down on the far side of the moon Thursday morning.

China becomes first country to land on far side of moon, state media announces

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