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EntityQ49044· pop 41· linked from 646 articles

Chinese lunar orbiter

Key facts

Mission type
Lunar orbiter
Operator
CNSA
Cospar id
2007-051A
Mission duration
1 year (planned), 1 year, 4 months and 5 days (final)
Bus
DFH-3A
Manufacturer
China Academy of Space Technology (CAST)
Launch mass
2,350 kg (5,180 lb)
Payload mass
130 kg (290 lb)
Launch date
24 October 2007, 10:05:05 UTC
Rocket
Chang Zheng 3A
Launch site
Xichang LC-3
Disposal
Deorbited
Decay date
1 March 2009, 08:13:10 UTC
Reference system
Selenocentric
Periselene altitude
200 km (120 mi)
Aposelene altitude
200 km (120 mi)
Inclination
64°
Period
127 minutes

via Wikipedia infobox

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Chang'e 1 ( /tʃæŋˈʌ/; simplified Chinese: 嫦娥一号; traditional Chinese: 嫦娥一號; pinyin: Cháng'é yī hào) was an uncrewed Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft, part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. The spacecraft was named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang'e.

Chang'e 1 was launched on 24 October 2007 at 10:05:04 UTC from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It left lunar transfer orbit on 31 October and entered lunar orbit on 5 November. The first picture of the Moon was relayed on 26 November 2007. On 12 November 2008, a map of the entire lunar surface was released, produced from data collected by Chang'e 1 between November 2007 and July 2008.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chang'e 1” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

On the map

2 mapped locations