China launches first moon rover, ‘Jade Rabbit’

The Chang'e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasts off, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwest province of Sichuan on Monday.

China launched its first ever extraterrestrial landing craft into orbit en route for the moon in the small hours of Monday, in a major milestone for its space programme.
The Chang’e-3 lunar probe, which includes the Yutu or Jade Rabbit buggy, blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China’s southwestern Sichuan province at 1:30am (1730 GMT).
The president, Xi Jinping, has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, and the mission has inspired pride in China’s growing technological prowess. State television showed a live broadcast of the rocket lifting off.
If all goes smoothly, the rover will conduct geological surveys and search for natural resources after the probe touches down on the moon in mid-December as China’s first spacecraft to make a soft landing beyond Earth.