China's Chang'e 3 Moon Mission Launched succesfully on 2nd December, 2013

China has launched its first ever extra terrestrial landing craft into the orbit en route for the moon.   Chang'e 3 mission operated by China National Space Administration incorporates a robotic lander and a rover.  Chang'e 3 was successfully launched on 2nd December, 2013 at 01:30 AM local time from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the Sichuan province of China.  The time of launch is 17:30 GMT on 1st Dec., 2013.  

This is the second phase of Chinese lunar exploration program.  This is the first lunar land rover and is the first spacecraft in 37 years to make a soft landing on the Moon since the Russia's Luna 24 Mission in 1976.  Chang'e is named after the goddess of Moon as per Chinese mythology and is a follow up of Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 lunar orbiters.  The lunar rover is called Yutu or Jade Rabbit, a name selected in an online poll that comes from a Chinese myth about a white rabbit that lives on the Moon.

The Chang'e lunar probe including the Yutu or Jade Rabbit buggy, blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B rocket.  The State Television showed a live broadcast of the rocket lifting off.

If every thing goes well, the rover will conduct geological surveys and search  for natural resources.  This is the  China's first spacecraft to make a soft landing beyond Earth, and will be touching down on the Moon in Mid-December, 2013.

The China's first moon orbiter was launched in 2007 - Chang'e 1 which took images of the Moon's surface and analyzed the distribution of elements.  Chinese scientists have discussed about the possibility of sending humans to the Moon some time around 2020.


The Jade Rabbit rover or Yutu will spend three months exploring the surface of Moon.  Here is a photograph of the Jade Rabbit Rover.

The launch video of Chang'e 3 Moon Mission of China can be seen below.