[attach id="295942" size="medium"][/attach]

China has launched its first mission to land a rover on the moon that will transmit images and survey the moon's surface.

The spacecraft is expected to land in mid-December.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e 3 lander blasted off today as scheduled at 1.30am local time from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in south-west China.

If the mission goes as planned, the Chang'e 3 will become China's first spacecraft to soft land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.

The moon rover will survey the moon's geological structure and surface substances.

China's military-backed space programme is a source of enormous national pride and has powered ahead in a series of well-funded, methodically timed steps.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.