China will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the moon in two years' time, state media reported, in what will be a first for humanity.<br />The moon's far hemisphere is never directly visible from Earth and while it has been photographed, with the first images appearing in 1959, it has never been explored.<br />China's Chang'e-4 probe -- named for the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology -- will be sent to it in 2018, the official Xinhua news agency reported.<br />"The Chang'e-4's lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys," it cited the country's lunar exploration chief Liu Jizhong as saying on Thursday.<br />Beijing sees its military-run, multi-billion-dollar space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as evidence of the ruling Communist Party's success in transforming the once poverty-stricken nation.
