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China successfully lands space probe on the dark side of the moon

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has successfully landed a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, transmitting the hidden half's first ever up-close image.

The moon is tidally locked to Earth and rotates at the same rate as it orbits our planet, meaning we never see most of the so-called dark side. While previous spacecraft have seen the far side, none have ever landed on it.

The lunar probe, named Chang'e 4, will explore a targeted area near the moon's south pole in the Von Karman Crater using a rover. The CSNA called the landing "a new chapter in human lunar exploration", lifting the "mysterious veil" on the other side of the moon.

Its tasks will include astronomical observation, surveying the moon’s terrain, landform and mineral makeup, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment of its far side.

The probe took six live species up with it to the moon in order to make a mini biosphere, including cotton, rapeseed, potato, arabidopsis, fruit fly and yeast.

It marks the latest step by China in catching up to its US and Russian rivals in the space race, as Beijing hopes to become a major space power by 2030. China was the third country to launch an astronaut into space in 2003, trailing several decades behind its then-Soviet and US counterparts.

The US remains the only country to have landed humans on the moon, and President Donald Trump has committed himself to returning astronauts there as part of building a foundation for a future Mars mission.

The news comes as the private space race also heats up, as companies such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's Space X battle it out for multi-billion-dollar commercial contracts.

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture successfully reached the edge of the world's atmosphere for the first time in its fourth test flight across the US in December.