XICHANG, Nov. 30 -- China will launch the Chang'e-3 lunar probe at 1:30 a.m. Monday in Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the mission's launching headquarters said here Saturday.

This will be the first time for China to send a spacecraft to soft land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.

China is scheduled to launch Chang'e-3 lunar probe in early December, a spokesman with State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said Tuesday.(Photo source:Xinhua/chinanews.com)
Click here to see more photos about Chang'e-3 lunar probe

Press conference held in Beijing to introduce China's lunar probe

Chang'e-3 encompasses a lander and a moon rover called "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit). The lunar probe will land on the moon in mid-December if everything is successful, said Wu Zhijian, spokesman with State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

The Chang'e-3 mission is the second phase of China's lunar program, which includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth. It follows the success of the Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 missions in 2007 and 2010.

Chinese scientists have made technological breakthroughs for the Chang'e-3 mission, which will be the most complicated and difficult task in China's space exploration, Wu said.

"More than 80 percent of the technologies adopted in the mission are new," he said.

The mission will witness China's first soft landing and exploration on an extraterrestrial object, remote control of the lunar probe and deep space communications, Wu said. [Read More]

Timeline of China's lunar program

China's lunar mission is divided into three stages: orbiting, landing, and return. Following is the timeline of China's lunar mission development.

1998 Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) begins planning the lunar mission, tackling major scientific and technological problems;

2004 January - lunar orbiter project is formally established;

February - mission is named "Project Chang'e" after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon;

2007 Oct. 24 - Chang'e-1 is successfully launched;

Nov. 7 - Chang'e-1 enters lunar orbit;

Nov. 26 - a clip of the voice of the probe and a Chinese song "Ode to the Motherland" are sent back from orbit. China's first picture of the lunar surface is published by Xinhua News Agency;

2008 Jan. 31 - COSTIND publishes the first picture of the lunar polar region taken by Chang'e-1;

October - the State Council, China's Cabinet, approves the Chang'e-2 mission;

Nov. 12 - based on data collected by Chang'e-1, the first lunar hologram with a resolution of 7 meters is published;

2009 March 1 - Chang'e-1 impacts the moon under control;

2010 Oct. 1 - Chang'e-2 is sent into space aboard a Long March-3C carrier rocket from southwest China's Xichang satellite launch center;

Oct. 9 - Chang'e-2 enters 100-km circular lunar orbit;

Oct. 26 - Chang'e-2 enters lower, elliptical orbit; prepares to photograph Sinus Iridium;

Oct. 29 - Chang'e-2 photographs Sinus Iridium and returns to a higher orbit;

Nov. 8 - pictures of Sinus Iridium published by the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND);

2011 April 1 - Chang'e-2 completes all six engineering objectives and four scientific missions. Its design lifetime expires;

April to the end of May - Chang'e-2 surveys south and north poles of the moon, and takes high-resolution pictures of the chosen landing site for Chang'e-3;

Aug. 25 - For the first time in history, from lunar orbit a space craft enters the second Lagrange Point (L2) orbit, where gravity of the sun and Earth balance the orbital motion of the satellite;

2012 Feb. 6 - SASTIND publishes a lunar hologram with a resolution of 7 meters;

Dec. 13 - Chang'e-2 arrives in deep space 7 million km away from Earth, and surveys the Tout asteroid;

Present Chang'e-2 is 60 million km away from Earth and has become China's first man-made asteroid in the solar system. It continues flying into deeper space. [Read More]

More reports on China's space exploration:

>>>Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft mission

>>>China's Shenzhou-9 mission