China lands robot on Moon in landmark mission

China successfully carried out its soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, state media said.

Saturday's successful mission is the latest stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon.

The rover will be remotely controlled by Chinese control centres with support from a network of tracking and transmission stations around the world operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). The probe and the rover are expected to photograph each other on Sunday.

A Chinese spacecraft landed successfully on the moon today, state media reported, in the first such "soft-landing" since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat.

China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast images of the Chang'e-3 probe's location and a computer generated image of the probe on the surface of the moon.

The Chang'e-3, a probe named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, is carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit buggy, which will dig and conduct geological surveys.

China appears to have become only the third country to "soft-land" on the moon's surface.

China's first lunar rover landed on the moon today, less than two weeks after it blasted off from Earth, according to Chinese state media.

A soft landing occurs when a spacecraft lands at a sufficiently low velocity for the equipment to remain undamaged.

A Chinese unmanned spacecraft has successfully landed on the moon for the first time, Chinese state media have said.

China becomes the first country to land on the Moon for 37 years in a major step forward for the country's space exploration programme.