Beijing: China’s lunar rover has left the first-ever “footprint” on the far side of the moon, officials said on Friday, hours after the robotic spacecraft successfully soft-landed on the mysterious and previously unexplored region of the Earth’s satellite.
The Chang’e-4 spacecraft scripted history on Thursday when it made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. Named after a Chinese moon goddess, the spacecraft comprises a lander and a rover.
“Lunar rover Yutu-2 or Jade Rabbit-2, left the first-ever ‘footprint’ from a human spacecraft on the far side of the moon late at night on Thursday,” Xinhua reported.
After the landing, experts verified the conditions of “Queqiao”, meaning Magpie Bridge, which was launched in May of 2018 to set up the communication link between the Earth and the moon’s far side.
