The Chang'e 3 lander captured the four images for this mosaic of the Yutu rover driving southward on December 23, 2013. Yutu's right solar panel is angled downward to catch the glancing sunlight at a better angle.
Photograph by Chinese Academy of Sciences/China National Space Administration/The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration/Emily LakdawallaChang’e-3 snapped this part of a panorama on December 17, 2013, three days after landing on the moon's lava-filled Mare Imbrium. Chang’e-3 came to rest 488 miles (786 kilometers) from Apollo 15, the first crewed lunar mission to use the “moon buggy.”
Photograph by Chinese Academy of Sciences/China National Space Administration/The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration/Emily LakdawallaA 2014 mosaic shows Yutu’s curved tracks. Yutu and Chang’e-3 landed on Mare Imbrium, the largest basin on the moon’s near side. Mare Imbrium formed from the lava backflow after a massive impact some 3.85 billion years ago.
Photograh by Chinese Academy of Sciences, China National Space Administration, The Science And Application Center For Moon And Deepspace Exploration, Emily LakdawallaWith the sun directly at its back, Yutu took a photograph of its own shadow in 2014.
Photograph by Chinese Academy of Sciences/China National Space Administration/The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace ExplorationYutu snapped six photos to make a mosaic of Pyramid Rock (Long Yan), a large block of rock near Chang’e-3 that was thrown into place by an ancient impact.
Photograph by Chinese Academy of Sciences/China National Space Administration/The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration/Emily LakdawallaOn January 13, 2014, the Yutu rover snapped a panorama of Chang’e-3 and its surroundings. Two Earth days later, its motor unit failed, stranding it.
Photograph by Chinese Academy of Sciences/China National Space Administration/The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration/Emily Lakdawalla