Update | One giant leap for China as Chang'e-3 probe makes perfect moon landing

Amid a puff of lunar dust, Chang'e-3 touched down on the moon at 9.12pm yesterday, making China the third nation to land a craft on the celestial body.

Scientists erupted in cheers and some cried at the command centre in Beijing as a computerised display showed the probe had landed in a flat plain known as Sinus Iridum, Latin for Bay of Rainbows, an unvisited area in the moon's north.

Lan Xiaohui, designer of Chang'e-3's thrust engine, told CCTV "the landing was perfect".

The rover - called Yutu or Jade Rabbit - will this morning unlock from inside the lander and roll down rails to begin its three-month mission of taking photos, analysing rock samples and mapping the lunar subsurface with a ground-penetration radar. It also carries an ultraviolet telescope that is well positioned to observe distant celestial objects.

The Chang'e-3 began its approach from an orbit about 15 kilometres above the moon. The final descent was controlled with the main engine and 28 small thrusters, which took the craft from a speed of 1.7 kilometres per second to almost zero within a few minutes.

Instruments on board allowed the probe to analyse the landing area and make adjustments from  100 metres away.