China hailed the successful launch of a moon rover in the early hours of Monday, in a project that the government hopes will catapult its plans to put a man on the moon sometime after 2020 and explore deeper regions of space.
Zhang Zhenrong, director of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, declared the first phase of the Chang’e-3 lunar probe a success as the rocket carrying it entered its scheduled orbit, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
“We will strive for our space dream as part of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation,” Mr Zhang said, echoing the rhetoric used by China’s president, Xi Jinping, to mark the country’s emergence as a more confident and assertive actor on the global stage.