China’s first lunar rover to land on moon Saturday—officials

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 on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. China will the launch Chang’e-3 lunar probe in the early hours of Monday Dec. 2, 2013, that will send the country’s first lunar lander and rover named “Jade Rabbit” onto the moon according to state media. AP FILE PHOTO

BEIJING – A space module carrying China’s first lunar rover is scheduled to land on the moon Saturday, authorities said Friday, describing the maneuver as the mission’s greatest challenge.

The spacecraft is scheduled to make touchdown 12 days after the Chang’e-3 mission blasted off on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the country’s southwest.

“On the evening of December 14, Chang’e-3 will carry out a soft landing on the lunar surface,” said a post on the mission’s official blog on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

The task was described as the mission’s “most difficult” in the post, which was written by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on behalf of the country’s space authorities.

The Chang’e-3 mission is named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology and the rover vehicle is called Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, after her pet.

The landing is expected to mark the latest step in an ambitious space programme which is seen as a symbol of China’s rising global stature and technological advancement.

China is aiming to become the third country to carry out a rover mission, following the United States and former Soviet Union decades ago.