The Chang’e-4 spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon and sent back its first close-up images, marking a milestone in humanity’s persistent exploration of space.

Artist concept of the soft landing of Chang’e-4 on the far side of the moon (Photo: China Lunar Exploration Project)

Media from around the world hailed the achievement.

It is a leap ahead for China, a “late starter in space exploration,” British broadcaster BBC said in its coverage of the latest moon landing. NASA experts praised the far side landing as a “first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment,” the broadcaster said.

The endeavor was very risky because direct radio communication is impossible on the moon’s far side, explained the Washington Post. Chinese scientists overcame this technical challenge by launching a satellite named Queqiao to relay data between the Earth and the lunar probe. 

“It’s been a long term vision of the Chinese,” the Post quoted an Australian researcher as saying, adding that dating back to the early 2000s, few would have guessed that China would rise in space so quickly.

China has been preparing for years for the “extreme challenges,” reported AFP, adding that it was no easy technological feat, because there was no predecessor to follow when it comes to touching down on the hidden side of the Earth’s natural satellite. 

The significance of the landing and the lunar surface sampling mission in the next phase is not limited to China. The relay satellite and probe are an international collaboration involving German, Swedish and Dutch researchers. 

It has never seen by naked eyes, but the moon’s far side has been observed by dozens of spacecraft since the 1960s. “But all observations have been from a distance. No craft has landed,” The Economist noted in an article recalling the history of human activities around the moon. 

Chang’e-4 mission will pave the way to bringing insight into the origins and evolution of the moon, because the location it landed on is the oldest and deepest on the celestial body. 

“We learn more about the moon,” said John M Logsdon, an emeritus professor at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. He told the New York Times, “It’s going to a place that no spacecraft has ever visited, so it’s true exploration.”