Image of the moon's far side with the Earth visible in the background against the blackness of space, captured by the 2014 Chang’e-5 T1 mission. The lunar surface appears gray and cratered, highlighting the rugged terrain of the moon.
The far side of the moon and distant Earth, imaged by the 2014 Chang’e-5 T1 mission service module.

China’s Queqiao-2 communications relay satellite entered lunar orbit March 24, paving the way for a lunar far side sample return mission.

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Andrew Jones covers China's space industry for SpaceNews. Andrew has previously lived in China and reported from major space conferences there. Based in Helsinki, Finland, he has written for National Geographic, New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, Sky...