Chinese spacecraft approaching the moon back

the Chang'e 4, as the craft is called, was launched from a satellite centre (eusc) in central China for three weeks ago. Rymdturens objective is to examine whether there is water or other resources at the moon's poles, as well as to see if the plants can live in an environment with lower gravity.

state media Xinhua writes that Chang'e 4 is now gone into a planned orbit around the moon. When the probe will land is not decided yet, but the idea is that it should be in January.

its own axis is the same as that around the earth, which means that the same side always pointed towards earth. Chang'e 4 would be the first spacecraft that lands on the ”dark” side of the celestial body.

China has recently put a lot of money on its space program. In the last year docked the country's first fraktrymdfarkost with the space station Tiangong 2. A goal of the asian nation is to have a permanently manned space station in use until 2022.

In march of this year plunged, however, Tiangong 2's predecessor, the Tiangong 1, uncontrolled toward the earth, in what can be seen as an embarrassing failure for the populous country's leadership. The station burned up before it could even hit the surface of the earth.

In the fall, it became clear that entrepreneur Elon Musk should send up the japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa in orbit around the moon. The japanese will be the first non-american who is approaching celestial body, and the first man to do it since 1972.