Chinese spacecraft set to be the first to land on the dark side of the moon set for blastoff

China is just days away from kicking off a historic mission to explore the dark side of the moon. The Chang'e-4, which launches on December 8th, will be the first ever rover to land on the far side of the lunar surface. The spacecraft is slated to leave from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, before entering the moon's orbit and hopefully touching down in the massive, 186-kilometer-wide Von Karman crater on the moon's south pole. The Chang'e-4, which launches on December 8th, will be the first ever rover land on the far side of the lunar surface. It will visit an unexplored region of the lunar surfacecalled the South Pole-Aitken Basin, located in the southern hemisphere of the dark side of the moon, which includes the Von Karman crater, among many others.