In January 2019, China became the first country to land a robotic mission on the moon’s far side.

It was an historic accomplishment—and a clear sign of new leadership in aerospace from China. The country showed up late to the space race—China didn’t send its first satellite into orbit until 1970, long after the U.S. and former Soviet Union had already been to the moon and back—but it’s certainly making up for lost time.

President Xi Jinping said “the space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger…the Chinese people will take bigger strides to explore further into space.”

China doesn’t just want to be seen as a powerful Asian nation—it wants to set the global pace for numerous geoeconomic initiatives, for environmental causes, and for societal development. Chinese officials have said that by 2030, China hopes to be among the major space powers of the world.