China Launched Its First Lunar Rover Mission Monday Dec 02,2013

China launched its first mission on Monday Dec 02,2013 to land a rover on the moon, an unmanned operation scheduled to arrive in mid-December to start surveying the lunar surface and transmitting images.

The Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang’e-3 lunar probe is prepared for launch at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

The Jade Rabbit rover, called “Yutu” in Chinese, is named after a Chinese myth about a woman named Chang’e who swallowed magic pills and took her pet rabbit to the moon, where she has been living as a goddess ever since.

The moon rover carried in the latest mission, called "Yutu" — or "Jade Rabbit" in Chinese — will survey the moon's geological structures

An artist  illustration of China's Yutu(Jade Rabbit)moon rover on the lunar surface

A Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e 3 lander blasted off Monday as scheduled at 1:30 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

If the Chang'e 3 successfully soft-lands on the moon, China will become the third country to do so, after the United States and the former Soviet Union

Note
China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the United States to achieve manned space travel independently.