China's Moon Lander Takes a Space Selfie

China made history this weekend by becoming only the third nation to soft land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon. Soon after, the spacecraft’s Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover was deployed and it took the opportunity to shoot what amounts to a “space selfie,” sending back an image of the Chang’e-3 to its handlers on Earth.

The image of the gold and silver-colored spacecraft appeared on the website of Xinhua, China’s state news agency (see below).

Another image, which was taken by the Chang’e-3 and posted to Xinhua’s Twitter account, shows the deployed Yutu rover displaying China’s flag. Read more...