China moon mission 2013: unmanned lunar landing later this year - Northern Voices Online

China moon mission 2013 is making headlines. China's unmanned lunar landing is expected before yearend. This is going to be a precursor to its manned moon landing later In an announcement aimed to shown its might in the space programmes, China said that it plans to land the first probe on the moon by the end of the year. The Chang'e-3 mission will be launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. In a press interaction, Ma Xingrui, the head of China's space exploration body and chief commander of the lunar program, said: "The Chang'e-3 lunar probe had officially entered its launch stage and by the end of the year, China would land a space probe on a celestial body for the first time. The Chang'e-3 mission makes best use of a plethora of innovative technology. It is an extremely difficult mission, that carries great risk. If the mission goes as planned than Chang'e-3 will not only mark China's first attempt at a soft-landing on the lunar surface but also the first time a soft-landing being carried out since the successful Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s carried out by America. It would be part of the second phase of country's lunar program that includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth. Earlier too the missions carried out by China had included plotting a high-resolution, full-coverage lunar map. Meanwhile the announcement drew flak from the country's citizens itself as Chinese social media was bombarded with comments stating the mission to be "wasteful" and an unnecessary provocation. Yet another section of netizens hailed the decision. "Remember to bring more national flags and put them up on the moon," a user posted on the micro-blogging service, Sina Weibo. Shortlink: Posted by admin on August 29, 2013. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNExO6J3tE9HJELTxwLJN1AjNTEmCQ&url=http://nvonews.com/2013/08/29/china-moon-mission-2013-unmanned-lunar-landing-later-this-year/

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