Lunar probe ready for lift-off in October
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A photo taken on Saturday, September 25, 2010, shows the Chang'e-2 satellite, carried by the Long March 3C rocket, in the No.2 Launching Tower in the Xichang Satellite Launching Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. [CFP] |
![A photo taken on Saturday, September 25, 2010, shows the Chang'e-2 satellite, carried by the Long March 3C rocket, in the No.2 Launching Tower in the Xichang Satellite Launching Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. [CFP]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100928/00016c8b5de00e0b810a03.jpg "A photo taken on Saturday, September 25, 2010, shows the Chang'e-2 satellite, carried by the Long March 3C rocket, in the No.2 Launching Tower in the Xichang Satellite Launching Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. [CFP]")
The country's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, named after China's mythical Moon Goddess, was launched on Oct 24, 2007, from Sichuan province. Its 16-month mission ended on March 1, 2009, when it crashed into the moon's surface.
According to China's three-phase moon exploration road map, the country will launch the Chang'e-2 lunar orbiter and then land Chang'e-3 on the moon in 2013. It is hoped that a sample of moon rock can be brought back to Earth in 2017.
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