That’s one giant leap for China.
China state television announced 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, according to Reuters. (A soft landing is where a lander touches down as gently as possible; it is preferable to a hard landing.)
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