The First Mission to the Far Side of the Moon Has Started

China is planning to land this year its Chang'e-4 probe on the moon's “dark side,” which has never before been explored. Chang'e-4 lunar lander and rover will be launched to the Aitken Basin of the south pole region of the Moon. As precursor, China launched today Queqiao ('magpie bridge') to the Moon orbit. This relay satellite will go to the halo orbit of the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point L2 for transmitting signals between the Earth station and the Chang'e-4 lander and rover, given the fact that direct communication with the far side of the Moon is not possible.