January 5, 2019
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A timeline of how China reached the far side of the Moon
October 24 2007 - China launches Chang'e-1, an unmanned satellite, into space where it remains operational for more than a year.
October 1 2010 - China launches Chang'e-2. This was part of the first phase of the Chinese moon programme. It was in a 100-km-high lunar orbit to gather data for the upcoming Chang'e-3 mission.
September 29, 2011 - China launched Tiangong-1.
September 15 2013 - A second space lab, Tiangong-2, is launched.
December 1 2013 - Chang'e-3 launched.
December 14 2013 - Chang'e-3, a 2,600 lb lunar probe landed on the near side of the moon successfully. It became the first object to soft-land on the Moon since Luna 24 in 1976.
April 1 2018 - Tiangong-1 crashed into Earth at 17,000 mph and lands in the ocean off the coast if Tahiti.
May 20 2018 - China launched a relay satellite named Queqiao which is stationed in operational orbit about 40,000 miles beyond the moon. This is designed to enable Chang'e-4 to communicate with engineers back on Earth.
December 7 2018 - Chinese space agency announces it has launched the Chang'e-4 probe into space.
December 12 2018 - Retrorockets on the probe fired to stabilise the spacecraft and slow it down.
December 31 2018 - The probe prepared for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon.
Estimated for 2020 – Tiangong-3, a follow-up mission to the Tiangong-2
Before 2033 - China plans for its first uncrewed Mars exploration program.
2040 - 2060 - The Asian superpower is planning a crewed mission to Mars.
Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk
