China�s burgeoning space program achieved a first on Thursday: a landing on the so-called dark side of the moon that brings the country closer to its goal of becoming a space power.

Three nations � the United States, the former Soviet Union and more recently China � have sent spacecraft to the near side of the moon, which faces Earth, but this landing is the first-ever on the far side.

The China National Space Administration said the 10:26 a.m. touchdown of the Chang�e 4 craft has �opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration.�

A photo taken at 11:40 a.m. and sent back by Chang�e 4 shows a small crater and a barren surface that appears to be illuminated by a light from the lunar explorer. Its name comes from that of a Chinese goddess who, according to legend, has lived on the moon for millennia.

The landing highlights China�s growing ambitions to rival the U.S., Russia and Europe in space, and more broadly, to cement the nation�s position as a regional and global power.

�The space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger,� President Xi Jinping said in 2013, shortly after becoming China�s leader.

In year-end wrap-ups, Chinese media and officials hailed the Dec. 8 launch of Chang�e 4 as one of the nation�s major achievements in 2018. The landing on Thursday was announced to the public by state broadcaster CCTV at the top of the noon news.

�On the whole, China�s space technology still lags behind the West, but with the landing on the far side of the moon, we have raced to the front,� said Hou Xiyun, a professor at Nanjing University�s school of astronomy and space science.

He added that China has Mars, Jupiter and asteroids in its sights: �There�s no doubt that our nation will go farther and farther.�

In 2013, Chang�e 3, the predecessor craft to the current mission, made the first moon landing since the former Soviet Union�s Luna 24 in 1976. The United States is the only country that has successfully sent a person to the moon, though China is considering a crewed mission too.

For now, it plans to send a Chang�e 5 probe to the moon next year and have it return to Earth with samples � also not done since the Soviet mission in 1976.

The moon�s far side isn�t always dark but is sometimes called the dark side because it faces away from Earth and is relatively unknown. It has a different composition than the near side, where previous missions have landed.

Chang�e 4, a combined lander and rover, will make astronomical observations and probe the structure and mineral composition of the terrain above and below the surface.

�The far side of the moon is a rare quiet place that is free from interference from radio signals from Earth,� mission spokesman Yu Guobin said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. �This probe can fill the gap of low-frequency observation in radio astronomy and will provide important information for studying the origin of stars and nebula evolution.�

One challenge of operating on the far side of the moon is communicating with Earth. China launched a relay satellite in May so that Chang�e 4 can send back information.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming only the third country to do so after Russia and the U.S. It has put a pair of space stations into orbit and plans to launch a Mars rover in the mid-2020s. Its space program suffered a rare setback last year with the failed launch of its Long March 5 rocket.

Wu Weiren, the chief designer of the China Lunar Exploration Project, called the landing a trailblazing milestone.

�Building a space power is a dream that we persistently pursue,� he said in an interview with CCTV at the Beijing Aerospace Flight and Control Center. �And we�re gradually realizing it.�

(AP)