China Launches Chang’e 3 on Country's First Mission to Land on the Moon

By Mike Killian, on December 1st, 2013

Liftoff of China’s Chang’e 3 and their “Jade Rabbit” Yutu rover to the surface of the Moon from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Image Credit: CCTV

Today, under cover of darkness, China successfully launched their first robotic lunar rover atop a powerful Long March-3B rocket from the country’s Xichang Satellite Launch […]

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A Red Flag on the Red Planet: China’s Mars Ambitions

By Ben Evans, on October 15th, 2013

Fobos-Grunt is integrated with its Zenit launch vehicle, preparatory to flight in November 2011. Photo Credit: AsianScientist

At 2:16 a.m. local time on 8 November 2011, the desolate steppe of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, shook to the roar of rocket engines. A Ukrainian-built Zenit-2SB vehicle thundered into orbit carrying the Russian Fobos-Grunt spacecraft, destined to […]

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