Ambitious and fast-growing China's space program is focused on landing on the dark side of the moon by 2018. China plans to get to Mars before the end of the decade. Space Agency of the country held a press conference on Tuesday to sign the contract, and outlined an ambitious goal to explore deep space.

Deputy head of National space administration Wu Yanhua, said that Beijing aims to launch its first probe to Mars by 2020, and implement orbital, Hiking and exploration, and then run a second mission, which will involve collecting samples from the surface of the red planet. Wu said that other plans include sending probes to Jupiter and its satellites. "Our common goal is that by 2030, China was one of the major space powers of the world," he said.

In 2003, China has launched a space probe on the moon and launched space laboratory. China also sent into space astronauts, but China is still a 3 space-faring nation in the world after USA and Russia. Wu told reporters that China still studying the possibility of sending a man to the moon, but with a focus on robotic lunar mission at the moment, including making the first landing on the far side of the moon in 2018.

In 2011, the U.S. Congress has banned NASA to work with China for reasons of national security. During his campaign US President-elect Donald trump talked about his love of space and that "space is awesome." His senior advisers advocated a new vision for the US space program.
sections: Politics, World News, Accidents