The nation is only the third in history to launch an unmanned lunar probe after the Chang'e-3 device, nicknamed 'Jade Rabbit' after a Chinese folklore character, set off at 5.30pm on Sunday evening (1.30am local time).
The lunar probe blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwestern Sichuan province.
The Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3
lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch
Center, Sichuan province, on Sunday
First: This probe is the first time China has sent a spacecraft to soft land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body
Exploring: If all goes well, the probe will conduct surveys on the moon over the course of 90 days
Ahead of the launch: The Chang'e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover prior to its launch at 1.30am local time
The probe, which can climb inclines of up to 30 degrees and travel up to 200 metres per hour, is targeted to land within a huge volcanic crater known as Sinus Iridum, which means the Bay of Rainbows, on about December 14.
The mission is a huge step forward for its ambitious space programme and forms part of a plan in which China hopes to build a permanent lunar base in order to launch future missions to Mars within the next 15 years.
President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, and the mission has inspired widespread pride in China's growing technological prowess. State television showed a live broadcast of the rocket lifting off.
If all goes smoothly, the rover will conduct geological surveys and search for natural resources after the probe touches down on the moon in mid-December.
It is designed to roam the lunar surface for at least 90 Earth days – three Lunar days – covering an area of about five square kilometres.
Plan: The probe launch is a major step for China's ambitious space programme which includes building a permanent lunar base
Record-breaker: The probe will be the country's first to land on the moon and has been nicknamed 'Jade Rabbit'
It will send probes beneath the surface as well as taking high-resolution images of the rock, a flat area formed from the molten basalt released by lunar volcanoes several billion years ago.
The journey of the probe and its final landing will be closely monitored by the European Space Agency (ESA), which is cooperating closely with China.
ESA’s own launch station in Kourou, French Guiana, will immediately start receiving signals from the mission after take-off and it will upload commands to the probe on behalf of the Chinese control centre.
'Whether for human or robotic missions, international cooperation like this is necessary for the future exploration of planets, moons and asteroids, benefitting everyone,' said Thomas Reiter, director of ESA’s human spaceflight operations.
This will be China's first spacecraft to make a soft landing beyond Earth.
In recent years, China has made considerable progress in its space programme.
History: China will become just the third
country in history to soft land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon when
'Jade Rabbit' launches next month.The gold-coloured model has six wheels
and wing-like solar panels
Tense: Chinese scientists test the moon rover ahead of its launch. It is expected to land on the Moon on December 14
In 2007, the country despatched an unmanned spacecraft called Chang'e to orbit the Moon.
The craft stayed in space for 16 months before being intentionally crashed on to the Moon's surface.
The name Jade Rabbit was chosen after an online poll in which millions took part.
Ouyang Ziyuan, head of the moon rover project, told Xinhua earlier this week that the ancient beliefs had their origins in the marks left by impacts on the lunar landscape.
'There are several black spots on the moon's surface. Our ancient people imagined they were a moon palace, osmanthus trees, and a jade rabbit,' he said.
China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third country after Russia and the United States to achieve manned space travel independently.
The military-backed space programme is a source of national pride.
China is one of only three countries to have managed to independently send humans into space, the others being Russia and the US.
Form: The first time China launched an unmanned
spacecraft was in 1999, pictured. It is the only the third country to
have done so, after Russia and the US
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin, right, walking on the moon, left, in 1969
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