First soft
landing since 1976 puts China alongside US and former Soviet Union in
accomplishing such a feat
theguardian.com,
Reuters, Saturday 14 December 2013
A screen grab of live TV footage shows China's first lunar rover after it landed on the moon. Photograph: CCTV/AFP/Getty Images |
A Chinese
spacecraft has landed on the moon in the first "soft landing" since
1976.
The event,
broadcast live on Chinese TV, means the country has joined the United States
and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat.
The Chang'e
3, a probe named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, is
carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit rover, which will dig and
conduct geological surveys. The mission is expected to last three
months.
In China's
most recent manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in
orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, part of Beijing's quest
to build a working space station by 2020.
State TV footage
showing the Jade Rabbit moon rover
moving away from the Chang'e-3, Dec. 14. (Photo/Xinhua)
|
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