CASC Long March 3B Chang'e 3 & Yutu
Long March 3B
Status
Success
Date
1 DEC 2013
17:30
Launch Provider
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Launch Pad
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2)
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Mission Overview
Chang'e 3 is an uncrewed lunar exploration mission consisting of a robotic lander and China's first lunar rover Yutu. The main objective of the mission is to achieve China's first soft landing and roving exploration on the Moon, as well as performing lunar-based astronomical observation and studying lunar topography and geology.
Rocket
Long March 3B
Mission Type
Robotic Exploration
Orbit
Lunar Orbit
Stages
3
Livestream
Rocket Details
The Long March 3B is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on liquid rocket boosters, it is currently the most powerful member of the Long March rocket family and the heaviest of the Long March 3 rocket family, and is mainly used to place communications satellites into geosynchronous orbits.
Height
54.8 m
Diameter
3.35 m
Launch Mass
426 T
Thrust
5,923 kN