China might just have grown the first plant ever on the moon

Footage from the moon on January 7 when the first green leaf appeared inside the Chang&#39;e 4 probe.

Hong Kong (CNN)Cotton seeds carried to the moon by a Chinese probe have sprouted, marking what could be the first plant to ever grow there, according to Chinese government images.

China became the first country to land a probe on the far side of the moon on January 3 when a rover named Yutu 2, or Jade Rabbit 2, touched down in the moon's largest and oldest impact crater, the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
The mission, titled Chang'e 4, is intended to accomplish a range of tasks, including conducting the first lunar low-frequency radio astronomy experiment and exploring whether there is water at the moon's poles.
    While human beings have grown plants in space before, they've never attempted to grow one on the moon.
    "This (mission) has achieved the first biological experiment on the moon of human history, to sprout the first bud on the desolate moon. And with time moving on, it'll be the first plant with green leaves on the moon," Xie said.
      China's ambitions for space and lunar exploration aren't limited to the current mission. On Monday, China's space agency announced the Chang'e 5 lunar mission would launch by the end of the year with a goal to bring moon samples back to Earth.