China launches its first moon rover: state TV

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

The Chang'e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasts off around 1:30 am December 2 into the dark sky

Chinese workers make final preparations to the launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan on December 1, 2013. China launches its first lunar rover mission, the latest step in an ambitious space program seen as a symbol of its rising global stature. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO

BEIJING, China – China launched its first moon rover mission early Monday, December 2, state TV showed, the latest step in an ambitious space program seen as a symbol of its rising global stature.

The Chang’e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasted off around 1:30 am (Sunday 1730 GMT) into the dark sky, the CCTV official broadcaster showed in live footage from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest of the country.

The probe is due to land on the moon in mid-December to explore its surface and look for natural resources.

It is the world’s third lunar rover mission following those by the United States and former Soviet Union decades earlier.

China’s military-led space program aims to establish a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send someone to the moon.

Since 2003 it has sent 10 astronauts into space and launched an orbiting space module, Tiangong-1. It also sent probes to orbit the moon in 2007 and 2010.

The rover’s name Jade Rabbit, or “Yutu,” was chosen in an online poll of 3.4 million voters.

It comes from an ancient Chinese myth about a rabbit living on the moon as the pet of Chang’e, a lunar goddess who swallowed an immortality pill.

State television showed the rocket shooting into the sky, and mission observers could be heard reporting at regular intervals that things were proceeding “normally”.

The lunar probe held “great scientific and economic significance,” the Xinhua state news agency paraphrased Sun Zezhou, the chief designer of the lunar probe, as saying.

“The mission has contributed to the development of a number of space technologies and some of them can be applied in civilian sector,” it paraphrased Sun as saying.

The mission had gathered attention in recent days, with users of Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, vowing to stay up to watch the live coverage.

“The news on TV about Chang’e 3 has made me incredibly proud,” one commenter said ahead of the launch. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!