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Chang'e-4: Visiting the Far Side of the Moon
By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | May 25, 2018 09:29 pm ET
When China's Chang'e-4 mission reaches the lunar surface in December 2018, it will become the first mission to make a soft landing on the far side of the moon. The combination lander-rover will explore the several aspects of the so-called "dark" side, as well as study the universe's radio sky.
A key element of the mission was the May 2018 launch of the Queqiao relay satellite, which will pass information from Chang'e-4 (CE-4) back to Earth. Both missions are led by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Chang'e program was named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, and "Queqio" means "bridge of magpies." According to China's state-run Xinhua news service, Queqio is based on a Chinese folktale, where "magpies form a bridge with their wings on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to enable Zhi Nu, the seventh daughter of the goddess of heaven, to cross and meet her beloved husband, separated from her by the Milky Way."
Previous Chang'e missions set the stage for Chang'e-4:
More:
https://www.space.com/40715-change-4-mission.html