Chang'e 2 [SEP] time of spacecraft launch
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Chang'e


just before the first Moon landing in 1969: In 2007, China launched its first lunar probe, a robotic spacecraft named Chang'e 1 in the goddess' honour. A second robotic probe, named Chang'e 2, was launched in 2010. A third Chang'e spacecraft, called Chang'e 3, landed on the Moon on 14 December 2013, making China the third country in the world to achieve such a feat after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The lander also delivered the robotic rover "Yutu" ("Jade Rabbit
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Chinese Lunar Exploration Program


manager is Luan Enjie. The first spacecraft of the program, the Chang'e 1 lunar orbiter, was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on 24 October 2007, having been delayed from the initial planned date of 17–19 April 2007. A second orbiter, Chang'e 2, was launched on 1 October 2010. Chang'e 3, which includes a lander and rover, was launched on 1 December 2013 and successfully soft-landed on the Moon on 14 December 2013. Chang'e 4, which includes a lander and rover, was launched on 7
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Chang'e 2


implementation of China's future lunar exploration," and the "Queqiao" relay satellite was based on Chang'e 2 design. Chang'e 2 was launched on 1 October 2010 at 10:59:57 UTC aboard a Long March 3C rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, Sichuan. The launch of the probe coincided with China's National Day on 1 October, in a symbolic celebration of the country's 61st communist anniversary. The spacecraft entered an orbit with a perigee of 200 km and an apogee of 380,000 km, and separated from the carrier
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Chang'e 3


2004, China's lunar orbiter project was formally established. The first Chinese lunar orbiter, Chang'e 1, was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on 24 October 2007 and entered lunar orbit on 5 November. The spacecraft operated until 1 March 2009, when it was intentionally crashed into the surface of the Moon. Data gathered by Chang'e 1 were used to create an accurate and high-resolution 3D map of the entire lunar surface, assisting site selection for the Chang'e 3 lander. Chang'e 1's successor, Chang'e 2, was
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Chang'e 5


Chang'e 5 () is a robotic Chinese lunar exploration mission consisting of a lander and a sample-return vehicle. It is currently under development and it is scheduled for a launch in December 2019, after being postponed due to the failure of the Long March 5 launch vehicle in 2017. Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming to return at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to the Earth. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess, Chang'e.
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Chang'e 6


Chang'e 6 () is a planned robotic Chinese lunar exploration mission expected to be launched in 2023 or 2024 and perform China's second sample return mission. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is designed to be conducted in three phases of incremental technological advancement: The first is simply reaching lunar orbit, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010. The second is landing and roving on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013
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Chang'e 5-T1


Chang'e 5-T1 () is an experimental robotic spacecraft that was launched to the Moon on 23 October 2014 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to conduct atmospheric re-entry tests on the capsule design planned to be used in the Chang'e 5 mission. As part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, Chang'e 5, scheduled to launch in December 2019, will be a Moon sample return mission. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese Moon goddess Chang'e. The craft consisted of a return vehicle capsule and
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Chang'e 3


Chang'e 3 (; ) is an robotic lunar exploration mission operated by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), incorporating a robotic lander and China's first lunar rover. It was launched in December 2013 as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. The mission's chief commander was Ma Xingrui. The spacecraft was named after Chang'e, the goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology, and is a follow-up to the Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 lunar orbiters. The rover was named "Yutu" (
669593
Exploration of the Moon


orbiter on October 24, 2007. Originally planned for a one-year mission, the Chang'e 1 mission was very successful and ended up being extended for another four months. On March 1, 2009, Chang'e 1 was intentionally impacted on the lunar surface completing the 16-month mission. On October 1, 2010, China launched the Chang'e 2 lunar orbiter. China landed the rover Chang'e 3 on the Moon on December 14, 2013, became the third country to have done so. Chang'e 3 is the first spacecraft to soft-
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Chang'e 1


Chang'e 1 (; ) was an unmanned 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
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2019 in spaceflight


This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019. The Chinese probe Chang'e 4 made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January. China also intends to launch Chang'e 5 in December, the first sample-return mission to the Moon since Luna 24 in 1976, and to test a new generation of crewed spacecraft. Chang'e 5 will use the recently developed Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket. India has launched the delayed Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter/lander/rover in July. Some of the
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Chang'e 4


's space missions, the details of the spacecraft and the mission have been limited. What is known is that much of the Chang'e 4 lander and rover design is modeled after Chang'e-3 and its "Yutu" rover. In fact, Chang'e 4 was built as a backup to Chang'e 3, and based on the experience and results from that mission, Chang'e 4 was adapted to the specifics of the new mission. The lander and rover were launched on 7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC, six months after the launch of the "
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Chang'e 4


Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission, part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. It achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, "Queqiao", was first launched to a halo orbit near the Earth-Moon L point in May 2018. The robotic lander and Yutu 2 (Chinese: 玉兔二号; literally :"Jade Rabbit No. 2") rover were launched on 7 December 2018 and entered lunar orbit
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Moon landing


was launched on 7 September 2013. The mission ended on 18 April 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon, which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of Sundman V crater. On 14 December 2013 at 13:12 UTC Chang'e 3 soft-landed a rover on the Moon. This was the first lunar soft landing since Luna 24 on 22 August 1976. On 3 January 2019 at 2:26 UTC Chang'e 4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side
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Chang'e 5


collecting lunar samples from the near-side and sending them to Earth, a task for the future Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 missions. The program aims to facilitate a crewed lunar landing in the 2030s and possibly build an outpost near the south pole. The probe was planned for launch by the Long March 5 rocket at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island, but the failure of this vehicle in 2017 created uncertainty about its ability to carry Chang'e 5. The spacecraft will be launched with Chang Zheng 5 rocket. Targeted
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2010 in spaceflight


rocket was used for the launch, which occurred from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. The spacecraft conducted a mission similar to that of the earlier Chang'e-1 spacecraft, but with a focus on mapping potential landing sites in preparation for the Chang'e-3 unmanned lunar lander. Seven manned launches were planned for 2010, with three Space Shuttle missions and four Soyuz flights for International Space Station (ISS) crew rotation. STS-130, using orbiter "Endeavour", was the first manned flight of the year, launching on 8 February with the "Tranquility
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Chang'e 2


. According to Ouyang Ziyuan's report to the 16th Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chang'e 2 departed from L2 on 15 April 2012, and began a mission to the asteroid 4179 Toutatis. The flyby was successfully achieved on 13 December 2012 at 16:30:09 Beijing Time (08:30:09 GMT). Close-up images of the asteroid, with a resolution of up to per pixel, were later published online. The flyby was the first time an unmanned spacecraft had imaged the asteroid so closely. Chang'e-2 came as close as to
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Future of space exploration


an orbiter and a lander. It is currently under development and it is scheduled for a launch in December 2019, after being postponed due to the failure of the Long March 5 launch vehicle in 2017. Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming to return at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to the Earth. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess, Chang'e. This will be the first lunar sample-return mission since Luna 24 in 1976.
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Chang'e 4


and the Earth. On 20 May 2018, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched the Queqiao () relay satellite to a halo orbit around the Earth–Moon L point. The relay satellite is based on the Chang'e 2 design, has a mass of , and it uses a antenna to receive X band signals from the lander and rover, and relay them to Earth control on the S band. The spacecraft took 24 days to reach L, using a lunar swing-by to save fuel. On 14
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Chang'e 2


and it had been modified for its own mission. While Chang'e 1 operated in a 200-km orbit, Chang'e 2 flew at only 100 km, allowing for higher-resolution images and more precise science data. The probe also possessed a higher-resolution camera, being able to resolve features as small as across from orbit. According to Qian Huang of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and Yong-Chun Zheng of the NAOC, the spacecraft also had a shorter Earth-to-Moon cruise time of 5 days, rather than 12.
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Chang'e 2


Chang'e 2 (; ) is a Chinese unmanned lunar probe that was launched on 1 October 2010. It was a follow-up to the Chang'e 1 lunar probe, which was launched in 2007. Chang'e 2 was part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, and conducted research from a 100-km-high lunar orbit in preparation for the December 2013 soft landing by the Chang'e 3 lander and rover. Chang'e 2 was similar in design to Chang'e 1, although it featured some technical improvements, including a more advanced onboard
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Chang'e 4


. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has started to incorporate private investment from individuals and enterprises for the first time, a move aimed at accelerating aerospace innovation, cutting production costs, and promoting militarycivilian relationships. The Chang'e 4 mission was first scheduled for launch in 2015 as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. But the adjusted objectives and design of the mission imposed delays, and finally launched on 7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018, 08:45 UTC. The orbit
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Exploration of the Moon


spacecraft. India expects to launch another lunar mission in 2nd half of 2019, the Chandrayaan-2, which would place a robotic rover on the Moon. China planned to conduct a sample return mission with its Chang'e 5 spacecraft in 2017, but that mission has been postponed until December 2019 due failure of the Long March 5 launch vehicle. Russia also announced to resume its previously frozen project Luna-Glob, an uncrewed lander and orbiter, which is slated to launch in 2021. In 2015, Roscosmos stated that Russia plans to place
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Moon landing


on 14 December 2013, as did its successor, Chang'e 4, on 3 January 2019. All crewed and uncrewed soft landings had taken place on the near side of the Moon, until 3 January 2019 when the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft made the first landing on the far side of the Moon. On 22 February 2019, Israeli private space agency SpaceIL launched spacecraft Beresheet from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the intention of achieving a soft landing. SpaceIL lost contact with the spacecraft and it crashed into the surface on 11 April.
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2007 in spaceflight


and Mauritian satellites, Libertad 1 and Rascom-QAF 1 respectively, were launched in 2007, although a helium leak reduced Rascom's operational lifetime by thirteen years. Several spacecraft were launched to explore the Moon. Japan's Kaguya orbiter, along with the smaller Okina and Ouna relay spacecraft, was launched on 14 September. The spacecraft entered Selenocentric orbit on 3 October. China launched its first Lunar probe, Chang'e 1, on 24 October, with the spacecraft entering Selenocentric orbit on 5 November. In 2009, two satellites launched
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Chang'e 2


rocket as planned. It was the first time that a Chinese lunar probe directly entered an Earth-to-Moon transfer orbit without orbiting the Earth first. After the launch, Chang'e 2 arrived in its lunar orbit within 4 days and 16 hours. Later, the probe lowered its orbit to , with a perilune of . Chang'e 2 entered its 100 km working orbit on 9 October 2010 after three successful brakings. On 8 November 2010, the Chinese government announced the success of all of Chang'e 2's mission objectives, and
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Comparison of Asian national space programs


FSW series, have undergone many atmospheric reentry tests. In the 1990s China had commercial launches, resulting in more launch experiences and a high success rate after the 1990s. China has aimed to undertake scientific development in fields like Solar System exploration. China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft successfully performed an EVA in September 2008. China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft successfully performed a manned docking in June 2012. Furthermore, China's Chang'e 2 explorer became the first object to reach Sun-Earth Lagrangian point in August 2011 and also the first probe to
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Space probe


up in Saturn's atmosphere, after almost 20 years in space. First probe to be launched to Pluto. Launched on January 19, 2006, it flew by the Pluto–Charon system on July 14, 2015. First spacecraft to visit and orbit a protoplanet (4 Vesta), entering orbit on July 16, 2011. Entered orbit around dwarf planet Ceres in early 2015. Currently orbiting Ceres as of February 2017. First probe to Jupiter without atomic batteries, launched August 8, 2011. Chang'e 2 was deployed to
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Chinese Lunar Exploration Program


The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP; ), also known as the Chang'e Project () after the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The program incorporates lunar orbiters, landers, rovers and sample return spacecraft, launched using Long March rockets. Launches and flights are monitored by a Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) system, which uses radio antennas in Beijing and antennas in Kunming, Shanghai, and Ürümqi to form a VLBI
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Chang'e 2


The probe's launch rocket had two more boosters to accomplish this more direct route to the Moon. Furthermore, its laser altimeter's footprint was smaller than Chang'e 1's, achieving 5-meter vertical accuracy in its estimate of the Moon's radius. It also pulsed more frequently – five times per second rather than just once per second, as Chang'e 1's altimeter did. Additionally, the probe's main camera had a spatial resolution of , rather than . The total cost of the Chang'e 2 mission was approximately CN¥900 million. Late
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Chang'e 5-T1


a service module orbiter. The return capsule of Chang'e 5-T1, named "Xiaofei" () meaning "little flyer" in Chinese, landed in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia on 31 October 2014, 22:42 UTC. The CE-5-T1 Service Module entered lunar orbit on January 13, 2015. Its initial orbit was 200 x 5300 km with period of 8 hours. It consisted of a DFH-3A "Chang'e 2 type" spacecraft with a mass of approximately 2,215 kg (including 1,065 kg of fuel) carrying the Chang'e 5 return capsule with
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Asteroid


to Earth on 13 June 2010. The European "Rosetta" probe (launched in 2004) flew by 2867 Šteins in 2008 and 21 Lutetia, the third-largest asteroid visited to date, in 2010. In September 2007, NASA launched the "Dawn" spacecraft, which orbited 4 Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012, and has been orbiting the dwarf planet 1 Ceres since 2015. 4 Vesta is the second-largest asteroid visited to date. On 13 December 2012, China's lunar orbiter "Chang'e 2"
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Trans-lunar injection


, the spacecraft took over 13 months to reach a lunar orbit and 17 months to reach its desired orbit. China launched its first Moon mission in 2007, placing the Chang'e 1 spacecraft in a lunar orbit. It used multiple burns to slowly raise its perigee to reach the vicinity of the Moon. India followed in 2008, launching the Chandrayaan-1 into a GTO and, like the Chinese spacecraft, increasing its perigee over a number of burns. In 2011 the NASA GRAIL satellites used a low delta-v route to the Moon
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Chang'e 1


radiator. Its sister orbital probe Chang'e 2 was launched on 1 October 2010. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is designed to be conducted in three phases of incremental technological advancement: The first is simply reaching lunar orbit, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010. The second is landing and roving on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013 and Chang'e 4 did in 2019. The third is collecting lunar samples from the near-side and sending them to Earth, a task for the future
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Chang'e 3


approved on October 2008 and was launched on 1 October 2010 to conduct research from a 100-km-high lunar orbit, in preparation for Chang'e 3's 2013 soft landing. Chang'e 2, though similar in design to Chang'e 1, was equipped with improved instruments and provided higher-resolution imagery of the lunar surface to assist in the planning of the Chang'e 3 mission. In 2012, Chang'e 2 was dispatched on an extended mission to the asteroid 4179 Toutatis. The official mission objective is to achieve China's first soft-landing and
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Lander (spacecraft)


spacecraft, previously known as the "Lunar Surface Access Module" or "LSAM", was the planned lander for the Constellation program, prior to the cancellation of Project Constellation. Russia has plans for Luna-Grunt mission to return samples from the Moon by 2021. The Chinese Chang'e 3 mission and its Jade Rabbit rover landed on 14 December 2013. Then China plans to repeat lander with rover in Chang'e 4 mission after 2015 that will followed by Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 sample return missions in 2017 and before 2020. The
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Chang'e 3


has been divided into three main operational phases, which are: Chang'e 3 was launched at 17:30 UTC on 1 December 2013 (01:30 local time on 2 December) atop a Long March 3B rocket flying from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Homes downrange of the Launch Centre were damaged during liftoff when spent hardware wreckage from the rocket, including one piece the size of a desk, fell on a village in Suining County in neighbouring Hunan province. The county authorities had moved 160,000
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Solar electric propulsion


Solar electric propulsion (SEP) typically refers to the combination of solar cells and an ion drive to propel a spacecraft through outer space. This technology has been exploited in a variety of spacecraft by the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA. SEP is valued for its potential for a high specific impulse, thus allowing less mass for propellant to be launched with a spacecraft and it has been evaluated for mission to Mars. Solar electric propulsion combines solar panels on spacecraft and ion thrusters,
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Chang'e 3


lander also carries an extreme ultraviolet (30.4 nm) camera, which will be used to observe the Earth's plasmasphere in order to examine its structure and dynamics and to investigate how it is affected by solar activity. Three panoramic cameras are installed on the lander, facing different directions. The lander is equipped with a single descent camera that was tested on the Chang'e 2 spacecraft. The Chang'e 3 lander also carries an extensible soil probe. The development of the six-wheeled rover began in 2002 at the Shanghai Aerospace System Engineering
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2010 in spaceflight


to enter the orbit around Venus five years later in December 2015. IKAROS, the first operational solar sail, was launched on the same rocket as Akatsuki. The first Japanese asteroid probe, Hayabusa, returned to Earth on 13 June, having landed on 25143 Itokawa in an effort to collect samples. It was also the world's first successful sample return mission from an asteroid. On 1 October at 10:59:57 UTC, China successfully launched the Chang'e-2 spacecraft, the nation's second mission to explore the Moon. A Long March 3C
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Near-Earth object


asteroid surface in February 2002. A second near-Earth asteroid, the long peanut-shaped 25143 Itokawa, was visited in September 2005 by JAXA's "Hayabusa" mission, which succeeded in taking material samples back to Earth. A third near-Earth asteroid, the long elongated 4179 Toutatis, was explored by CNSA's "Chang'e 2" spacecraft during a flyby in December 2012. The Apollo asteroid 162173 Ryugu is the target of JAXA's "Hayabusa 2" mission. The space probe was launched in December 2014,
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2009 in spaceflight


, Chang'e 1 was deorbited on 1 March, having completed its operations. Kaguya was also deorbited following a successful mission, impacting near Gill crater on 12 June. The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft failed on 29 August, having operated for less than half of its design life. The Mars Science Laboratory and Fobos-Grunt missions to Mars had been scheduled for launch at the end of 2009, however both were delayed to 2011 to allow more time for the spacecraft to be developed. Fobos-Grunt, a sample return mission to Mars'
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Manfred Memorial Moon Mission


Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M) was the first private lunar probe to successfully fly by the Moon. It was led by LuxSpace, a child company of German OHB System, in honor of OHB Systems founder, professor Manfred Fuchs, who died in 2014, and was launched with the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 test spacecraft on 23 October 2014. The lunar flyby took place on 28 October 2014, after which the spacecraft entered the elliptical Earth orbit and continued transmission until 11 November 2014, exceeding its designed lifetime by four times
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Chang'e 4


on 12 December 2018, before landing on the Moon's far side. The mission is the follow-up to Chang'e 3, the first Chinese landing on the Moon. The spacecraft was originally built as a backup for Chang'e 3 and became available after Chang'e 3 landed successfully in 2013. The configuration of Chang'e 4 was adjusted to meet new scientific objectives. Like its predecessors, the mission is named after Chang'e, the Chinese Moon goddess. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is designed to be conducted in three phases of incremental technological
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Chang'e 5


This will be the first lunar sample-return mission since Luna 24 in 1976. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is designed to be conducted in three phases of incremental technological advancement: The first is simply reaching lunar orbit, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010. The second is landing and roving on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013 and Chang'e 4 in 2019 (launched in December 2018, landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019). The third phase is
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Chang'e 3


people to safety before the liftoff, while more than 20,000 people near the launch site in Sichuan had been moved to a primary school auditorium. The expected wreckage zone for Long March rockets is long and wide. Chang'e 3 entered a -high circular lunar orbit on 6 December 2013, 9:53 UTC. The orbit was obtained after 361 seconds (6 minutes) of variable thrust engine braking from its single main engine. Later, the spacecraft adopted a × elliptic orbit. The landing took place one week later, on 14 December.
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Long March 3C


The payload for the first launch was the Tianlian-1 data relay communications satellite. The second carried the Compass-G2 navigation satellite, and was conducted on 14 April 2009. The third launch was made on 16 January 2010, with the Compass-G1 satellite. The fourth carrying the Compass-G3 navigation satellite was launched on 2 June 2010. On 1 October 2010, it successfully launched China's second lunar probe, Chang'e 2. An enhanced version of the Long March 3C rocket debuted during the launch of Chang'e 5-T1 on 23
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Chang'e 1


data collected by Chang'e 1 between November 2007 and July 2008. The mission was scheduled to continue for a year, but was later extended and the spacecraft operated until 1 March 2009, when it was taken out of orbit. It impacted the surface of the Moon at 08:13 UTC. Data gathered by Chang'e 1 was able to create an accurate and high resolution 3-D map of the lunar surface. Chang'e 1 is the first lunar probe to conduct passive, multi-channel, microwave remote sensing of the Moon by using a microwave
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Comparison of Asian national space programs


Space Frontier Foundation released in 2006, the "space economy" is estimated to be worth about $180 billion, with more than 60% of space-related economic activity coming from commercial goods and services. China and India propose the initiation of a commercial launch service. China has a space program with an independent human spaceflight capability. It has developed a sizable family of successful Long March rockets. It has launched two lunar orbiters, Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2. On 2 December 2013, China launched a modified Long March
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Long March (rocket family)


Long March rockets have subsequently maintained an excellent reliability record. Since 2010, Long March launches have made up 15–25% of all space launches globally. Growing domestic demand has maintained a healthy manifest. International deals have been secured through a package deal that bundles the launch with a Chinese satellite, circumventing the U.S. embargo. The Long March is China's primary expendable launch system family. The Shenzhou spacecraft and Chang'e lunar orbiters are also launched on the Long March rocket. The maximum payload for LEO is 12,000 kilograms (CZ-3B),
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2007 in spaceflight


The year 2007 contained several significant events in spaceflight, including a Chinese ASAT test, the launches of the US Phoenix and Dawn missions to study Mars and Asteroid belt respectively, Japan's Kaguya Lunar orbiter, and the first Chinese Lunar probe, Chang'e 1. The internationally accepted definition of a spaceflight is any flight which crosses the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level. The first recorded spaceflight launch of the year occurred on 10 January, when a PSLV, launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, placed four spacecraft into
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2013 in spaceflight


In 2013, the maiden spaceflight of the Orbital Sciences' Antares launch vehicle, designated "A-ONE", took place on 13 April. Orbital Science also launched its first spacecraft, Cygnus, that docked with the International Space Station in late September 2013. India's Indian Space Research Organisation launched its first mission to Mars with the Mars Orbiter Mission that successfully reached Mars orbit on 23 September 2013. Numerous significant milestones in robotic spaceflight occurred in 2013, including the landing of China's Chang'e 3 lander at Moon's Mare
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Xichang Satellite Launch Center


based on a modified DF-21 ballistic missile or its commercial derivative, the KT-2 with a Kinetic Kill Vehicle and is fully mobile. On October 24, 2007, Chang'e 1, an un-manned Moon orbiter of the Chang'e program, was successfully launched from the facility, marking the beginning of China's lunar exploration program. China launched its first Long March-3C carrier rocket on April 25, 2008. This was the 105th mission of China's Long March series of rockets, and also the launch of the nation's first data relay
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Chinese Lunar Exploration Program


Chang'e program, but only by a small margin. The complexity of the space environment encountered during the Chang'e missions imposed strict requirements for environmental adaptability and reliability of the probes and their instruments. The high-radiation environment in Earth-Moon space required hardened electronics to prevent electromagnetic damage to spacecraft instruments. The extreme temperature range, from on the side of the spacecraft facing the Sun to on the side facing away from the Sun, imposed strict requirements for temperature control in the design of the detectors. Given the conditions of the
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Chang'e 2


, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010. The second is landing and roving on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013 and Chang'e 4 did in 2019. The third phase is collecting lunar samples from the near-side and sending them to Earth, a task for the future Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 missions. The program aims to facilitate a crewed lunar landing in the 2030s and possibly build an outpost near the south pole. Chang'e 2 was the backup of the Chang'e 1 probe
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Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site


The CZ-5B (max payload to LEO) variant will fly around 2018. But CZ-5 carrier rocket was already shipped from North China's Tianjin port at 20 September 2015 for a rehearsal (some drills carried out on the launch pad that involves both the carrier rocket and a probe) of a scheduled Chang'e-5 lunar mission planned around 2019. The construction of the site was completed by October, 2014. The first launch took place successfully at 20:00, June 25, 2016. Political considerations had postponed the construction of a large space center
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Chinese Lunar Exploration Program


the lunar surface, it was necessary to devise a system of automatic hazard avoidance in order that the landers would not attempt to touch down on unsuitable terrain. Chang'e 3 utilized a computer vision system in which the data from a down-facing camera, as well as 2 ranging devices, were processed using specialized software. The software controlled the final stages of descent, adjusting the attitude of the spacecraft and the throttle of its main engine. The spacecraft hovered first at , then at , as it searched for a suitable spot
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Rover (space exploration)


2010. Chang'e 3 is a Chinese Moon mission that includes a robotic lunar rover "Yutu", named after the pet rabbit of Chang'e, the goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology. Launched in 2013 with the Chang'e 3 mission, it is China's first lunar rover, the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 and the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2 ceased operations on 11 May 1973. It was deployed on the Moon on December 14, 2013 and the rover encountered operational difficulties toward the
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Chang'e 1


and it remained in lunar orbit until March 1, 2009. On 1 March 2009, at 08:13:10 UTC, Chang'e 1 crashed onto the surface of the Moon, ending its mission. According to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (China), this was a planned and controlled impact. Impact point was . During its orbital mission the probe transmitted 1,400 gigabits or 175 gigabytes (GB) of data. The Chang'e 1 spacecraft had a mass of , with a payload, carrying 24 instruments including
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Chang'e 3


) following an online poll, after the mythological rabbit that lives on the Moon as a pet of the Moon goddess. Chang'e 3 achieved lunar orbit on 6 December 2013 and landed on 14 December 2013, becoming the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. On 28 December 2015, Chang'e 3 discovered a new type of basaltic rock, rich in ilmenite, a black mineral. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is designed to be conducted in three phases of incremental technological advancement
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Chang'e 2


in the mission, Chang'e 2's orbit was lowered to an elliptical one, with the same apolune (100 km) as Chang'e 1, but with a perilune of only 15 km. Tracking for the mission was performed with an X-band radio capability, which was not available for Chang'e 1. Zheng remarked that "the mission goals of Chang'e 2 were focused into the high resolution image for the future landing site of CE-3 lunar lander and rover. The success of Chang'e 2 provided an important technical basis for the successful
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Soyuz TM-2


Soyuz TM-2 was the spacecraft used to launch a long duration crew to the Soviet space station Mir, which was unmanned at the time. TM-2 was launched in February 1987, and it was first manned spaceflight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, and the second manned spaceflight to Mir (the first being Soyuz T-15). The crew of the long duration expedition, Mir EO-2, who were launched by TM-2 consisted of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Laveykin. The spacecraft remained docked to Mir, functioning as a lifeboat for the
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Chang'e 1


Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 missions. The program aims to facilitate a crewed lunar landing in the 2030s and possibly build an outpost near the south pole. The Chang'e 1 mission had four major goals: In addition, the lunar probe engineering system, composed of five major systems – the satellite system, the launch vehicle system, the launch site system, the monitoring and control system and the ground application system – accomplished five goals: According to the schedule, detailed design of the first program milestone was completed by September 2004.
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Chang'e 1


Research and development of a prototype probe and relevant testing of the probe were finished before the end of 2005. Design, manufacture, general assembly, test and ground experiments of the lunar orbiter were finished before December 2006. Originally scheduled for April 2007, the launch was postponed until October as this was "a better time for sending a satellite into the Moon's orbit". Chang'e 1 was launched by a Long March 3A rocket at 10:05 GMT on October 24, 2007 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province. After
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Chinese Deep Space Network


The Chinese Deep Space Network is a network of large antennas and communication facilities that supports the lunar and interplanetary spacecraft missions of China. It is managed by the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC). The network was first needed for the lunar mission Chang'e 1, but will be used to support future missions to the moon and Mars. Similar networks are run by the USA, Russia, European countries, Japan, and India. As of 2007, the network consisted of: Planned improvements by 2012, to
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Exploration of the Moon


land on lunar surface since Luna 24 in 1976. Since the Chang'e 3 mission was a success, the backup lander Chang'e 4 was re-purposed for the new mission goals. China launched on 7 December 2018 the Chang'e 4 mission to the lunar farside. On 3 January 2019, Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the Moon. India's national space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), launched Chandrayaan-1, an uncrewed lunar orbiter, on October 22, 2008. The lunar probe was originally intended to
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China


early 2020s. In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover onto the lunar surface; China plans to collect lunar soil samples by 2017. In 2016, China's 2nd space station module, Tiangong-2, was launched from Jiuquan aboard a Long March 2F rocket on 15 September 2016. Then Shenzhou 11 successfully docked with Tiangong-2 on 19 October 2016. In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the moon. A 2016 report by McKinsey consulting group,
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2011 Scottish Conservative Party leadership election


to the UK Conservative Party. This prompts mixed reactions from senior party figures. 4 Sep – Ruth Davidson formally announces that she will stand in the contest. 5 Sep – Murdo Fraser launches his campaign in Edinburgh. 8 Sep – Ruth Davidson launches her campaign in Edinburgh. 11 Sep – Lord Forsyth, at one point a suggested leadership candidate, declares his backing for Ruth Davidson. 23 Sep – Nominations for leadership close. Margaret Mitchell confirms she will stand in the election. 2 Oct – David Mundell MP declares his backing
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Exploration of the Moon


23 October 2014 with the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 test spacecraft, attached to the upper stage of a Long March 3C/G2 rocket. The 4M spacecraft made a Moon flyby on a night of 28 October 2014, after which it entered elliptical Earth orbit, exceeding its designed lifetime by four times. Following the abandoned US Constellation program, plans for crewed flights followed by moonbases were declared by Russia, Europe (ESA), China, Japan and India. All of them intend to continue the exploration of Moon with more uncrewed
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LADEE


meteor storm. The Moon is constantly releasing atomic sodium gas from its surface, and solar radiation pressure accelerates the sodium atoms in the anti-sunward direction, forming an elongated tail which points away from the Sun. As of April 2013, it had not yet been determined whether ionized sodium gas atoms or charged dust are the cause of the reported Moon glows. China's Chang'e 3 spacecraft, which was launched on December 1, 2013, and entered lunar orbit on December 6, was expected to contaminate the tenuous lunar exosphere
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Moon


named "Yutu" (Chinese: 玉兔; literally "Jade Rabbit"). This was the first lunar soft landing since "Luna 24" in 1976, and the first lunar rover mission since "Lunokhod 2" in 1973. China intends to launch another rover mission ("Chang'e 4") before 2020, followed by a sample return mission ("Chang'e 5") soon after. Between 4 October 2007 and 10 June 2009, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's "Kaguya (Selene)" mission, a
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Chang'e 3


: The first is simply reaching lunar orbit, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010. The second is landing and roving on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013 and Chang'e 4 did in 2019. The third phase is collecting lunar samples from the near-side and sending them to Earth, a task for the future Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 missions. The program aims to facilitate a crewed lunar landing in the 2030s and possibly build an outpost near the south pole. In January
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Chang'e 4


advancement: the first is to reach lunar orbit, a task completed by Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010; the second is to land and rove on the Moon, as Chang'e 3 did in 2013 and Chang'e 4 did in January 2019; the third is to collect lunar samples from the near-side and send them to Earth, a task for the future Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 missions. The program aims to facilitate a crewed lunar landing in the 2030s and possibly build an outpost near the south pole
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SERVIS-2


responsible for launching the SERVIS-1 spacecraft, were awarded the contract to launch SERVIS-2 on 21 February 2007. SERVIS-2 arrived at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 26 April 2010. Prior to launch, the spacecraft underwent final testing and fuelling, and was subsequently attached to its launch adaptor on 22 May. This was attached to the upper stage the next day, and the day after that the spacecraft was encapsulated in the payload fairing. Under terminology used by Eurockot, as well as several other launch service providers, the combination of spacecraft, adaptor,
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GEOStar-2


, the GEOStar-2 Bus targets shared launch opportunities, where launch cost and launch-sharing opportunities are favorable. Customers can purchase the GEOStar-2 Bus spacecraft bus alone, or as part of a turn-key service that includes an integrated payload, network operations center and launch vehicle. Orbital conducts spacecraft commissioning from its own ground station prior to transferring spacecraft control to the customer's operations center. The GEOStar-2 Bus fills a market niche for small, high power geosynchronous communications spacecraft. Orbital's first application of the GEOStar-2 Bus design, N
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Future of space exploration


other planets and their moons as well as establishing mining and fueling outposts, particularly in the asteroid belt. Physical exploration outside the solar system will be robotic for the foreseeable future. = Unmanned missions = Breakthrough Starshot is a research and engineering project by the Breakthrough Initiatives to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of solar sail spacecraft named "StarChip", to be capable of making the journey to the Alpha Centauri star system 4.37 light-years away. Chang'e 5 Chang'e 5 is a robotic Chinese lunar exploration mission consisting of
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Chang'e 3


. Each camera pair may be used to capture stereoscopic images, or for range imaging by triangulation. The descent of the Chang'e 3 spacecraft was expected to increase the content of lunar dust in the tenuous lunar exosphere, as well as introduce gases from engine firings during landing. Although there is no formal cooperation between NASA and the China National Space Administration, the landing provided an opportunity for NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission to examine possible changes to the baseline readings of the Moon's exosphere, and
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Chinese Lunar Exploration Program


three-body system of the Earth, Moon and a space probe, the orbit design of lunar orbiters is more complicated than that of Earth-orbiting satellites, which only deal with a two-body system. The Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 probes were first sent into highly elliptical Earth orbits. After separating from their launch vehicles, they entered an Earth-Moon transfer orbit through three accelerations in the phase-modulated orbit. These accelerations were conducted 16, 24, and 48 hours into the missions, during which several
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InterPlanetary Network


showed that bursts originated at great distances. Other spacecraft (such as the OGO, OSO, and IMP series) had detectors for Earth, Solar, or all-sky gamma radiation, and also confirmed the GRB phenomenon. Scientists began to tailor instruments specifically for GRBs. The Helios-2 spacecraft carried a detector with precision time resolution to a Solar orbit that took it over one AU from Earth. Helios-2 was launched in 1976. In 1978, multiple spacecraft were launched, forming the necessary baselines for a position determination. The Pioneer
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GLONASS


As with the previous generation, the second generation spacecraft were launched three at a time using Proton-K Blok-DM-2 or Proton-K Briz-M boosters. Some where launched alone with Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat On July 30, 2015, ISS Reshetnev announced that it had completed the last GLONASS-M (No. 61) spacecraft and it was putting it in storage waiting for launch, along with eight previously built satellites. As on September 22, 2017, GLONASS-M No. 52 satellite went into
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Proton-K


. Many launches used an upper stage to boost the payload into a higher orbit. Blok D upper stages were used on forty flights, the majority of which were for the Luna and Zond programmes. Ten flights used the Blok D-1, mostly to launch spacecraft towards Venus. Blok D-2 upper stages were used three times, with the Fobos 1, Fobos 2 and Mars 96 spacecraft. The Blok DM upper stage was used on 66 launches. The most commonly used upper stage was the Blok DM-2, which was used on 109
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Contact binary (small Solar System body)


bilobated 216 Kleopatra and 4769 Castalia. 25143 Itokawa, which was photographed by the "Hayabusa" probe, also appears to be a contact binary which has resulted in an elongated, bent body. Asteroid 4179 Toutatis with its elongated shape, as photographed by "Chang'e-2", is a contact binary candidate as well.. Among the distant minor planets, the icy Kuiper belt object was confirmed to be a contact binary when the "New Horizons" spacecraft flew past in 2019. While there is not sufficient observational data, it is
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Chang'e 4


Von Kármán ( diameter) in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon that was still unexplored by landers. The site has symbolic as well as scientific value. Theodore von Kármán was the PhD advisor of Qian Xuesen, the founder of the Chinese space program. The landing craft touched down at 02:26 UTC on 3 January 2019, becoming the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon. "Yutu-2" rover was deployed about 12 hours after the landing. A few days after landing
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Kosmos 419


9, in the aim of becoming the first Mars orbiter. As it was, Mariner 8 was lost in a launch failure two days before Kosmos 419 was launched, and Mariner 9 went on to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. Kosmos 419 was one of three "Mars" spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union in 1971, the others being Mars 2 and Mars 3; launched days after Kosmos 419. Unlike the 4M spacecraft, Mars 2 and 3, Kosmos 419 was a 3MS spacecraft which consisted only of
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Progress M-19M


Progress M-19M (), identified by NASA as Progress 51 or 51P, is a Progress spacecraft used by Roskosmos to resupply the International Space Station during 2013. Progress M-19M was launched on a standard 2-day rendezvous profile towards the ISS. The 19th Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft to be launched, it had the serial number 419 and was built by RKK Energia. The spacecraft was launched on time at 10:12 UTC on 24 April 2013 by a Soyuz-U carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
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DAVE (CP-7)


was launched into a high-inclination orbit as a secondary payload on the final flight of the Delta II launch vehicle as part of the ELaNa-18 ride-share mission with NASA's ICESat-2 primary payload. The launch occurred out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on September 15 at 6:02 AM local time. DAVE was deployed alongside three other CubeSat spacecraft: University of Central Florida's SurfSat, and two ELFIN spacecraft from University of California, Los Angeles. As of November 2018, the spacecraft is active and in good health.
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Gemini 9A


unknown reason, and the 40 second launch window opened and closed without launch. This earned Tom Stafford the title of "Mayor of Pad 19". The second launch attempt on June 3 went perfectly, with the spacecraft entering into orbit. With this launch, Stafford could say that he had been strapped into a spacecraft six times for only 2 launches. Launch vehicle performance was very close to nominal. Two small roll transients were evident at liftoff and pogo effects were the lowest yet recorded on a Gemini launch. Stafford made
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Kvant-1


) – carrying propulsion and electrical systems – to act as a space tug. The FSM was derived from the TKS spacecraft, which would later form the basis for the Functional Cargo Block of the Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr, and Priroda modules. Kvant-1 and its FSM were launched on March 30, 1987 – at the time of the launch the Mir station was manned by the EO-2 crew, which had already docked on the front port with the Soyuz TM-2 spacecraft. On April 9, Kvant-1 achieved a soft dock with the
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Interplanetary Transport Network


example of the use of the ITN was NASA's 2001–2003 Genesis mission, which orbited the Sun–Earth point for over two years collecting material, before being redirected to the Lagrange point, and finally redirected from there back to Earth. The 2003–2006 "SMART-1" of the European Space Agency used another low energy transfer from the ITN. In a more recent example, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 2 used the ITN to travel from lunar orbit to the Earth-Sun point, then on to fly by the asteroid 4179 Toutatis.
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Comparison of Asian national space programs


(MIP) released from Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. MIP was a hard lander and was designed to move the ground under for research purposes. MIP was designed to be destroyed at impact. Its instruments performed lunar observations to within 25 minutes before impact. The landing test will be applied to future soft landings such as Chandrayaan-2, planned for 2019. The Chinese Chang'e-1 spacecraft also achieved a systematic hard landing at the end of its mission in 2009, when China became the sixth country to reach the lunar surface. One purpose of the
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Luna E-6 No.2


Luna E-6 No.2, also identified as No.1, and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25, was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963, but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the first of twelve to be launched. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6
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VA spacecraft


spacecraft: While the VA spacecraft has seen some successful uncrewed test flights, both with and without a Functional Cargo Block, it never served in its intended role as a lunar or Almaz crew vehicle when the programs was canceled, and neither was it ever launched together with an Almaz space station. VA was the first spacecraft to be launched into orbit twice, as Kosmos 929 was recovered and launched again as Kosmos 998. Gemini 2 was launched into space twice, but both launches were suborbital. The VA spacecraft was initially designed
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Kosmos 104


Kosmos 104 ( meaning "Cosmos 104") or Zenit-2 No.36 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1966. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 104 was the thirty-second of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of . Kosmos 104 was launched by a Vostok-2 rocket flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 08:24 UTC on 7 January 1966; however, the carrier rocket malfunctioned, placing the spacecraft into the wrong orbit. The spacecraft received a Kosmos
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Intelsat 2


time it was operational. Designed for an operational life of 15 years, the spacecraft was equipped with 20 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Its two solar arrays, which had a span of generated 4,700 watts of power when the spacecraft first entered service, which was expected to drop to around 4300 watts by the end of the vehicle's operational life. Arianespace launched Intelsat 2, using an Ariane 4 rocket, flight number V65, in the Ariane 44L H10+ configuration. The launch took place from ELA-2
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Chang'e 2


published lunar surface images with a resolution of up to . In February 2012, the Chinese government released a complete lunar map constructed from Chang'e 2's data, claiming that it was the highest-resolution map of the entire Moon yet recorded. The full dataset, including the map with resolutions of 7, 20 and 50 m, and elevations model with resolutions of 20 and 50 m, is available for free download since April 2018. On 8 June 2011, Chang'e 2 completed its extended mission, and left lunar orbit for
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Gemini 2


Gemini 2 (Gemini-Titan 2; GT-2) was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini, and was launched and recovered on January 19, 1965. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an unmanned mission intended as a test flight of the Gemini spacecraft. Unlike Gemini 1, which was placed into orbit, Gemini 2 made a suborbital flight, primarily intended to test the spacecraft's heat shield. It was launched on a Titan II GLV rocket. The spacecraft used for the Gemini 2 mission
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SpaceX


re-entry burn for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. With Dragon's safe recovery, SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; prior to this mission, only government agencies had been able to recover orbital spacecraft. COTS Demo Flight 2 launched in May 2012, in which Dragon successfully berthed with the ISS, marking the first time that a private spacecraft had accomplished this feat. Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of contracts awarded by NASA from 2008–2016 for delivery of
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Venera 2


Venera 2 ( meaning "Venus 2"), also known as 3MV-4 No.4 was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, it failed to return data after flying past Venus. Venera 2 was launched by a Molniya carrier rocket, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 05:02 UTC on 12 November 1965, with the first three stages placing the spacecraft and Blok-L upper stage into a low Earth parking orbit before the Blok-L
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Shenzhou 2


Shenzhou 2 () launched on January 9, 2001, was the second unmanned launch of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Inside the reentry capsule were a monkey, a dog and a rabbit in a test of the spaceship's life support systems. The reentry module separated from the rest of the spacecraft after just over seven days in orbit, with the orbital module staying in orbit for another 220 days. "Shenzhou 2" tested the spacecraft much more rigorously than its predecessor "Shenzhou 1". After being launched into a 196.5 by
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Luna 2


Luna 2 (), originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. The spacecraft was launched on 12 September 1959 by the Luna 8K72. It followed a direct path to the Moon. In addition to the radio transmitters sending telemetry information back to Earth, the spacecraft released a sodium gas cloud so the spacecraft's movement could be visually observed. On 13 September 1959, it impacted the Moon's surface east
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