Spaceflight Insider

News Archive / Tagged: Yutu

  • China to attempt first landing on far side of Moon in 2018

    Tomasz NowakowskiJanuary 20th, 2016

    China recently specified its lunar exploration plans, announcing that the nation will soft-land a probe on the far side of the Moon in 2018. If successful, the country will become the first nation to land a spacecraft on the part of the lunar hemisphere that is invisible from Earth.

  • Chinese Chang’e-4 to be the first probe to land on the Moon’s far side

    Tomasz NowakowskiSeptember 17th, 2015

    After becoming the third country to land a probe on the Moon, China has gained an appetite for lunar firsts. The Chinese government has started the development of the Chang'e-4 mission – the successor of Chang'e-3, which successfully landed on the lunar surface in December 2013.

  • China’s Yutu ‘Jade Rabbit’ still working – but immobile

    Jason RhianMarch 5th, 2015

    The first lunar lander that the nation of China has fielded, Yutu (Chinese for the “Jade Rabbit”) is, in some aspects, paralyzed. The rover is still technically functioning — but it is incapable of moving. Launched in late 2013, the rover touched down on the Moon’s surface on Dec. 14, 2013, and ceased roving the […]

  • Destination Moon: Chang’e 3 conducts historic soft-landing on the Moon

    SpaceFlight InsiderDecember 14th, 2013

    In what could be considered a historic day for spaceflight, the Chinese Chang’e 3 lunar lander carrying the Yutu rover onboard, successfully soft-landed on the Moon today, at 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT), within Sinus Iridum, or the “Bay of Rainbows.” This feat represents a historic achievement for China, which became just the third nation […]

  • Chinese rover set to become the sixth lunar roving vehicle

    David DarlingDecember 10th, 2013

    Having successfully entered a 62-mile-high orbit around the Moon on December 6 (Beijing time), China’s Chang’e 3 spacecraft is being prepared for a lunar landing attempt currently scheduled for Dec. 15. Once on the ground, the spacecraft will release a rover, called Yutu, which, if everything goes according to plan, will become the third robotic […]