China moves closer to putting man on Moon

China is making “preliminary” preparations to send a man to the Moon, according to a senior Beijing space official, the latest goal in China’s ambitious lunar exploration programme.

In 2003 China became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket after the former Soviet Union and America.

In late 2013 it completed the first lunar “soft landing” since 1976.

The country also plans to land the first probe ever on the “dark” side of the moon in 2018.