Chang'e 3 [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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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 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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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 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" (
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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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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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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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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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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 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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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 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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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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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


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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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 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


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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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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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 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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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 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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Moon


, under the Outer Space Treaty, free to all nations to explore for peaceful purposes. The European spacecraft "SMART-1", the second ion-propelled spacecraft, was in lunar orbit from 15 November 2004 until its lunar impact on 3 September 2006, and made the first detailed survey of chemical elements on the lunar surface. The ambitious Chinese Lunar Exploration Program began with "Chang'e 1", which successfully orbited the Moon from 5 November 2007 until its controlled lunar impact on 1 March 2009. It obtained a full image map
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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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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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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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Luna 24


the last spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon until the landing of "Chang'e 3" on December 14, 2013, 37 years later. In February 1978 Soviet scientists M. Akhmanova, B. Dement'ev, and M. Markov of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytic Chemistry published a paper claiming a detection of water fairly definitively. Their study showed that the samples returned to Earth by the probe contained about 0.1% water by mass, as seen in infrared absorption spectroscopy (at about 3 µm wavelength), at a detection
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South Pole–Aitken basin


of mountains located on the Moon's southern limb, sometimes informally called "Leibnitz mountains". On , the Chang'e 4, a Chinese spacecraft, landed in the basin, specifically within a crater called Von Kármán. In May 2019, scientists announced that a large mass of material had been identified deep within the crater. The existence of a giant far side basin was suspected as early as 1962 based on early probe images (namely Luna 3 and Zond 3), but it was not until the acquisition of global photography by
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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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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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Luna E-6 No.3


Luna E-6 No.3, also identified as No.2 and sometimes by NASA as Luna 1963B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1963. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the second of twelve to be launched, and the second consecutive launch failure. 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 No.3 was launched at 09:26:14 UTC on 3 February 1963, atop a
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Zond 3


Zond 3 was a 1965 space probe which performed a flyby of the Moon far side, taking a number of quality photographs for its time. It was a member of the Soviet Zond program while also being part of the Mars 3MV project. It was unrelated to Zond spacecraft designed for manned circumlunar missions (Soyuz 7K-L1). It is believed that Zond 3 was initially designed as a companion spacecraft to Zond 2 to be launched to Mars during the 1964 launch window. The opportunity to launch was missed, and the
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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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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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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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Von Kármán (lunar crater)


Von Kármán is a large lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. The crater is about in diameter and lies within an immense impact crater known as the South Pole–Aitken basin of roughly in diameter and deep. Von Kármán is the site of the first soft-landing on the lunar far side by the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft on 3 January 2019. The northern third of this formation is overlain by the rim and outer rampart of the walled plain Leibnitz, forming a
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Lunar outpost (NASA)


there is no budget yet for this project. China National Space Administration (CNSA) has commenced the Chang'e program for exploring the Moon to investigate the prospect of lunar mining, specifically for mining isotope helium-3 for use as an energy source on Earth. CNSA director Luan Enjie has stated, humans must learn to leave Earth and "set up self-sufficient extraterrestrial homeland." China launched the Chang'e 1 robotic lunar orbiter on October 10, 2007. The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has planned a fully robotic lunar base
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Shenzhou 1


Shenzhou 1 () launched on November 19, 1999, was the first unmanned launch of the Shenzhou spacecraft. The spacecraft used was not equipped with a life support system or an emergency escape system. After orbiting the Earth 14 times, the command for retrofire was sent by the "Yuanwang 3" tracking ship off the coast of Namibia at 18:49 UTC. After a successful reentry it landed about 415 km east of its launch pad and 110 km north-west of Wuhai, Inner Mongolia. The first Shenzhou spacecraft was different
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Moon landing


14 December 2013. To date, the United States is the only country to have successfully conducted crewed missions to the Moon, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. 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. After the unsuccessful attempt by Luna 1 to land on the Moon in 1959, the Soviet Union performed the first hard Moon landing - "
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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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Yutu (rover)


, though most of its time was spent immobile. On August 3, 2016, it was reported that the rover had ceased to communicate with "Chang'e 3" despite attempts to reestablish transmissions, effectively ending the mission. The rover's ground penetrating radar found evidence for a minimum of 9 distinct rock layers, indicating that the area had surprisingly complex geological processes and is compositionally distinct from the Apollo and Luna landing sites. During 15 April 2014, the Chang'e 3 mission, including its "Yutu" rover, witnessed a total
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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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Ariane flight VA245


("Mio") was built by ISAS for JAXA. This flight was Airbus's mission, ESA's mission and spacecraft launched by Arianespace, and the latter's deep space mission. The Arianespace launch of took place on at 01:45:28UTC ( 22:45:28 local time) from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) in Kourou, French Guiana. The different parts of the spacecraft arrived in French Guiana between April 24 and May 9. Deployment testing of "BepiColombo" MTM 2 solar arrays (which will generate up to
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Luna E-3 No.1


Luna E-3 No.1, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the first of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the Moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon, including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However,
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Luna E-3 No.2


Luna E-3 No.2, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the second of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon, including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However,
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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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ASTRO (satellite)


, from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was contracted by the Space Test Program to launch the STPSat-1 spacecraft, and was named STP-1. It also deployed NEXTSat; as well as FalconSAT-3, CFESat and MidSTAR-1. The launch marked the first time United Launch Alliance had launched an Atlas V, the type having previously been operated by International Launch Services. ASTRO was a spacecraft, which was built by Boeing. It was operated in low Earth orbit. On 9 March 2007, it had
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NEXTSat


from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was contracted by the Space Test Program to launch the STPSat-1 spacecraft, and was named STP-1. It also deployed ASTRO; as well as FalconSAT-3, CFESat and MidSTAR-1. The launch marked the first time United Launch Alliance had launched an Atlas V, the type having previously been operated by International Launch Services. NEXTSat is a spacecraft, which was built by Ball Aerospace around the RS-300 satellite bus. It was operated in low Earth orbit; on 9
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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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Lunar lander


after it arrested its velocity at an altitude of 3.4m it simply fell to the Lunar surface. To accommodate the fall the spacecraft was equipped with crushable components that would soften the blow and keep the payload safe. More recently, the Chinese Chang'e 3 lander used a similar technique, falling 4m after its engine shut down. Perhaps the most famous lunar landers, those of the Apollo Program, were robust enough to handle the drop once their contact probes detected that landing was imminent. Apollo 11's lunar lander, for
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Mars 2MV-3 No.1


Mars 2MV-3 No.1 also known as Sputnik 24 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars program, and was intended to land on the surface of Mars. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it did not depart low Earth orbit, and it decayed several days later. It was the only Mars 2MV-3 spacecraft to be launched. The spacecraft was launched at 15:35:15 UTC on 4 November 1962, atop a Molniya 8K78 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at
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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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Chang'e 3


roving exploration on the Moon, as well as to demonstrate and develop key technologies for future missions. The scientific objectives of Chang'e 3 include lunar surface topography and geology survey, lunar surface material composition and resource survey, Sun-Earth-Moon space environment detection, and lunar-based astronomical observation. Chang'e 3 will attempt to perform the first direct measurement of the structure and depth of the lunar soil down to a depth of , and investigate the lunar crust structure down to several hundred meters deep. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
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Far side of the Moon


the near side of the Moon, until 3 January 2019 when the Chang'e 4 spacecraft made the first landing on the far side. Astronomers have suggested installing a large radio telescope on the far side, where the Moon would shield it from possible radio interference from Earth. Tidal forces from Earth have slowed down the Moon's rotation to the point where the same side is always facing the Earth—a phenomenon called tidal locking. The other face, most of which is never visible from the Earth, is therefore called the "
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LADEE


radio frequency communication system. The technology is a direct predecessor to NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) system which is due to launch in 2017. The LADEE science teams continued to analyze data acquired at the time of the Chang'e 3 landing on December 14, 2013. The team for LADEE included contributors from NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C., NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of
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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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Luna E-1 No.3


Luna E-1 No.3, sometimes identified by NASA as "Luna 1958C", was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a Luna E-1 spacecraft, the third of four to be launched, all of which were involved in launch failures. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon, and in doing so become the first man-made object to reach its surface. The spacecraft was intended to release of sodium, in order to create a cloud of the metal which could be
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Chang'e 3


At periapsis, its variable thrusters were again fired in order to reduce its velocity, descending to above the Moon's surface. It hovered at this altitude, moving horizontally under its own guidance to avoid obstacles, before slowly descending to above the ground, at which point its engine was shut down for a free-fall onto the lunar surface. The landing sequence took about 12 minutes to complete. Topographic data from the Chang'e 1 and 2 orbiters were used to select a landing site for Chang'e 3. The planned landing site
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International Cometary Explorer


The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft (designed and launched as the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite), was launched August 12, 1978, into a heliocentric orbit. It was one of three spacecraft, along with the mother/daughter pair of ISEE-1 and ISEE-2, built for the International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) program, a joint effort by NASA and ESRO/ESA to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. ISEE-3 was the first spacecraft to be
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Nimbus 4


Nimbus 4 (also called Nimbus D) was a meteorological satellite. It was the fourth in a series of the Nimbus program. Nimbus 4 was launched on April 8, 1970, by a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, CA. The spacecraft functioned nominally until 30 Sep 1980. The satellite orbited the Earth once every 1 hour and 47 minutes, at an inclination of 80°. Its perigee was and apogee was . Nimbus 4, the fourth in a series of second-generation meteorological
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Chang'e 5


and the ascent vehicle is about . Chang'e 5-T1 is an experimental robotic lunar mission that was launched on 23 October 2014 to conduct atmospheric re-entry tests on the capsule design planned to be used in the Chang'e 5 mission. Its service module, called DFH-3A, remained in orbit around the Earth before being relocated via Earth-Moon L to lunar orbit by 13 January 2015, where it is using its remaining 800 kg of fuel to test maneuvers key to future lunar missions. The lander will carry landing cameras, a panoramic
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