Chang’e-3 Lands On The Moon And Deploys Yutu Rover
View of the lunar surface from Chang'e-3
CNSA
Update: The Yutu rover has been deployed and is driving on the lunar surface.
Chinese state media say China has successfully landed a space probe on the moon, in the first lunar “soft landing” in nearly four decades.
The Chang’e-3 lunar probe blasted off earlier this month from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China’s southwestern Sichuan province. It carried with it a moon rover, known as “Jade Rabbit.”
The rover will now separate from the lander and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.
China is the third country to carry out a soft lunar landing, after the United States and the former Soviet Union. The last one was in 1976.
