China's first lunar probe Chang'e-1 completed its first orbital transfer Thursday afternoon,another key move in its 380,000-km journey to the moon.
The orbital transfer began at 5:55 p.m.and succeeded after 130 seconds.The probe was transferred to an orbit with a nearest point of about 600 km,up from the former 200-km bearest point.
Chang'e-1,named after a mythical Chinese goddess who,according to legend,flew to the moon,blasted off on a Long March3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m.Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The circumlunar satellite will experience another three accelerations,which will further shorten its distance to the moon orbit,Zhou said.
The probe will complete its second orbital transfer on Friday.It is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on Oct.31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on Nov.5.