CHINA-SCIENCE-CHANG’E-3-LAUNCH (CN)

(131202) — XICHANG, Dec. 2, 2013 (Xinhua) — The Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying China’s Chang’e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Dec. 2, 2013. It will be the first time for China to send a spacecraft to soft land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body, where it will conduct surveys on the moon. (Xinhua/Wang Jianmin)(zc)