China’s space effort launched its most ambitious robotic lunar mission to date, taking aim at a crater near the south pole on the moon’s far side.
The Chang’e-4 combination lander and rover were sent into space atop a Long March 3B rocket at 2:22 a.m. local time Dec. 8 (10:22 a.m. PT Dec. 7) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China’s Sichuan Province, according to Sina Tech and other Chinese sources.
Chang’e-4’s flight plan calls for the probe to trace a looping series of orbits for 26 days or so, eventually putting it into position for a landing in Von Karman Crater, part of the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
