December 8, 2018

The Long March 3B rocket blasting off starting the Chang'e 4 mission (Photo courtesy Xinhua)

It was night in China when a rover and a lander were launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center starting the Chang’e 4 mission. After about half an hour, lander and rover, after successfully separating from the rocket’s third stage entered the orbit where they’ll start the series of maneuvers that will bring them en route to the Moon.