China could be the first nation to visit the dark side of the Moon, with the country's state media announcing plans Friday, January 15 to send a probe to the satellite's unexplored hemisphere in 2018, the Verge reports.

A spacecraft named Chang'e-4 will attempt the mission, said Liu Jizhong, head of China's lunar exploration center, which will be the first of its kind in history. The far hemisphere of the Moon (which is "dark" in the sense of unexplored, rather than lacking light), was unobserved until 1959 when a Soviet Union probe photographed it.

"The Chang’e-4’s lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys," Jizhong said. "The implementation of the Chang’e-4 mission has helped our country make the leap from following to leading in the field of lunar exploration."

According to Jizhong, Chang'e-4's goals will include studying geological conditions on the Moon's surface, but advancing China's space program is an important goal in and of itself. Chinese state media quoted science official Qian Yan as saying that space flight is "an important manifestation of overall national strength." And that every successful mission “greatly stimulated the public’s … pride in the achievements of the motherland’s development.”