BEIJING鈥揅hina launched its first space mission to the moon and back early Friday, authorities said, the latest step forward for Beijing鈥檚 ambitious programme to one day land a Chinese citizen on the Earth鈥檚 only natural satellite.
The unnamed, unmanned probe will travel to the moon, fly around it and head back to Earth, re-entering the atmosphere and landing, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said in a statement.
鈥淭he first stage of the first return journey test in China鈥檚 moon probe programme has been successful,鈥� it said after the launch, from the Xichang space base in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The module will be 413,000 kilometres from Earth at its furthest point on the eight-day mission, it added.
The official Xinhua news agency said it would re-enter the atmosphere at 11.2 kilometres per second (25,000 mph) before slowing down 鈥� a process that generates extremely high temperatures 鈥� and landing in northern China鈥檚 Inner Mongolia region.
The mission is intended to test technology to be used in the Chang鈥檈-5, China鈥檚 fourth lunar probe, which aims to gather samples from the moon鈥檚 surface and will be launched around 2017, SASTIND said previously.
Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as evidence of the ruling Communist Party鈥檚 success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
The military-run project has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to send a human to the moon.
China currently has a rover, the Jade Rabbit, on the surface of the moon.
The craft, launched as part of the Chang鈥檈-3 lunar mission late last year, has been declared a success by Chinese authorities, although it has been beset by mechanical troubles.