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Credit & Copyright: Chinese National Space
Administration
Explanation:
On January 3,
the Chinese Chang'e-4 spacecraft made the first
successful landing on the Moon's farside.
Taken by a camera on board the lander,
this
image is
from the landing site inside Von Karman crater.
It shows the desksized, six-wheeled Yutu 2
(Jade Rabbit 2) rover as it rolled down lander ramps and across the
surface near local sunrise and the start of the two week long lunar day.
Ripe for exploration,
Von Karman crater
itself is 186 kilometers in diameter.
It lies within
the Moon's old and deep South Pole-Aitken
impact basin with some of the most ancient
and least understood lunar terrains.
To bridge communications from the
normally hidden
hemisphere of the Moon,
China launched a relay satellite,
Queqiao,
in May of 2018 in to an orbit beyond the lunar farside.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon
Publications with words: Moon
See also:
- APOD: 2026 August 25 Á Earths Shadow Visualized with Lunar Eclipses
- APOD: 2026 May 11 Á Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
- APOD: 2026 May 9 Á Messier Craters in Stereo
- APOD: 2026 April 15 Á The ISS Transits the Moon
- APOD: 2026 April 11 Á Artemis II: Flight Day 6
- The Bay of Rainbows
- Earthset from Orion