The Chang'e-1 moon orbiter has entered into a 16-hour orbit at 205 kilometers perigee and 50,930 kilometers apogee, statistics from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) shows.
The 2,300-kg satellite will experience four accelerations and is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on November 5.
The circumlunar satellite blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. from the No. 3 launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province.
(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2007)
