The moment of China's "historic" landing on the moon

The moment of China's "historic" landing on the moon

China's space agency published a video of the moment when its probe landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, marking the first historic landing of China's space program.

The lunar probe "Chang Ah-4" launched in December fell smoothly at 02:26 GMT, and the first close-up image of the dark side of the moon was made, the National Space Administration said.

The landing revealed the mystery surrounding the far side of the moon and "opened a new page in the history of human discovery of the moon," the agency said in a statement on its Web site.

The statement included a color photograph, taken at a wide angle to a hole on the moon.

The probe, which includes a landing craft and a stroller, landed in a specific area near the moon's south pole at the Von Kerman crater after entering the orbit of the moon in mid-December.

The missions of Chang-ah-4 include astronomical observations, the survey of the rocky terrain and composition of the moon, measurement of neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon.

The moon's motion is linked to the movement of the planet, as the moon revolves around itself as fast as our planet, which means that its distant side can not be seen at all from Earth. Other spacecraft have seen the far side of the moon but none have landed on it.

A major space force

The probe's landing is an important achievement for Beijing in its pursuit of Russia and the United States to become a major space power by 2030. China plans to begin construction of its own manned space station next year.

Despite China's insistence that its ambitions are entirely peaceful, the US Department of Defense accuses it of carrying out activities aimed at preventing other countries from using any equipment in space when a crisis occurs.

Besides its civilian ambitions, Beijing has tested anti-satellite missiles and the US Congress has banned NASA from cooperating with its Chinese counterpart because of security concerns.

In 2003, China became the third nation to send a man into space aboard a missile after the Soviet Union and the United States. In 2017, she said she was preparing to send a person to the moon.