China's first flight to the moon: Jade Rabbit has landed

It looked like a computer game when the Chang'e-3 lander was seen touching down on the lunar surface at the Beijing Space Control Center at 9 p.m. local time. Huge monitors showed the first landing of a Chinese spacecraft on the moon.

The lander with the Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, lunar rover stands in hilly boulders with the earth far away. After the US and the former Soviet Union, China is the third nation to land on the moon. The rover made its first movements on Sunday.

The six-wheeled rover weighs 140 kilograms (306 lb) and is solar-powered. It will explore the surface of the moon for three months. It moves at a speed of up to 200 meters (600 feet) per hour. Experts see the moon landing as the most difficult mission of China's ambitious space program. More than 80 percent of the technology has been used for the first time.

Two weeks ago the launcher rocket Chang'e-3 transported the rover into space. It then entered an elliptical orbit around the moon. Unlike the earlier flights to the moon from the US and the Soviet Union, Chang'e-3 could remain in orbit to search for a landing place. The main purpose of the mission is to boost China's prestige.

The spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e. She was the companion of Yulu, the mythological lunar or jade rabbit that can be seen in the outlines of the lunar seas. Three million Chinese voted in an online poll to name the rover.

The Chinese mission to the moon is the first in a long time. The last probe to land on the moon was the Soviet Luna 24 in 1976. Beginning in the 1950s, the US and the Soviet Union engaged in a fierce space race. The Soviet Lunokhod 1, launched in 1970, was the first roving remote-controlled robot to reach another celestial body.

The most important step was the American Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, which marked the first time humans had set foot on another celestial body. The picture of astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin standing on the moon next to an American flag is one of humanity's best-known images.

The Apollo program fascinated people around the world. Some 600 million people watched the moon landing live on TV. After nearly 22 hours on the surface the lander left the moon. Despite copious evidence to the contrary, conspiracy theorists still believe that the pictures were faked in a TV studio.