Chinese space probe shoots for the moon

China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday on a year-long mission to study the surface of the moon, part of the country's ambitious plan to land a person there in 15 years.

The Chang'e 1 orbiter, named after a Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, lifted off from the Xichange Satellite Launch Centre in southwestern China at 6 p.m. local time, according to state television.

Several thousand people living within 2.5 kilometres of the launch site and the flight trajectory were evacuated from the area as a safety procedure,the Xinhua News Agency said.

The launch comes weeks after Japan successfully put its first lunar satellite in orbit around the moon. India also is set to join the budding space race between Asia's world powers as it launches its own lunar orbiter in April 2008.

In 2003, China joined the United States and the Soviet Union as just the third country tolaunch a person into space, and ithas since set an aggressive timetable for its space program in the hopes of catching up to Europe and the U.S.

The Chang'e 1 orbiter will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to take 3-D images of the moon's surface. It will enter the moon's orbit on Nov. 5 and is expected to send back its first image in late November, Xinhua reported.

An unmanned landing on the moon is expected to follow the lunar orbiter mission in 2012. The six-wheeled rover under development will reportedly run on nuclear power, as opposed to the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used to power the U.S.'s Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

China has ambitions to land a person on the moon by 2022, putting its timetable very close to that of the U.S.

NASA has already announced plans to have its new class of Orion spacecrafttake to spacein 2014 and land a four-person team on the moon by 2020.