Luxembourg lunar probe piggybacks aboard rocket

Hitching a ride on the experimental spacecraft China launched on Friday is a small spacecraft from Luxembourg produced by that country's space company LuxSpace.

OHB AG, a European company involved in space technology, security telematics and satellite services, and the parent company of LuxSpace, announced on its website that the LuxSpace module, the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, was launched on Friday at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on the same Long March 3C rocket as the Chinese craft.

It is at least the second time a carrier rocket has sent a Chinese spacecraft on a mission with a module from Luxembourg doubling up for the boost into space. In January 2012, China launched the Ziyuan III satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province. That rocket carried a satellite from Luxembourg.