China's probe land on moon

China probe lands on Moon

Third country after the U.S. and the erstwhile Soviet Union to achieve a “soft landing

• China on Saturday ( December 14 2013) for the first time landed a rover on the Moon — the first country to do so since 1976 — marking a landmark for the country’s fast-developing space programme.
• A lunar probe carrying the “Jade Rabbit” or Yu Tu rover landed in the Bay of Rainbows, or Sinus Iridum, on the Moon’s surface, 12 days after the Chang’e-3 probe — the country’s third major lunar mission — blasted off from southwestern China.
• China becoming the third country after the United States and the erstwhile Soviet Union to achieve a “soft landing”.
• China’s mission is more advanced, having “designed the suspension and obstacle-avoiding phases to survey the landing area much more precisely through fitted detectors”. The rover will spend the next few weeks exploring the lunar surface.
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