Editing Chang'e 1 (section)

== Mission ==

According to the schedule, detailed design of the first program milestone was completed by September 2004. 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.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

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".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://english.cri.cn/2906/2007/03/15/1261@205784.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317225442/http://english.cri.cn/2906/2007/03/15/1261@205784.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 17, 2007 | title=Chang'e-1 Satellite Launch Delayed | publisher=[[China Radio International]] | date=March 15, 2007 | access-date=2007-10-24}}</ref> 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 liftoff, Chang'e 1 made three orbits around the Earth, a burn at [[apsis|perigee]] extending the orbit's [[apsis|apogee]] further each time, until a final [[translunar injection]] burn placed it on course for the Moon on October 31, 2007.  Another burn placed it in a [[polar orbit]] around the Moon, with burns at the [[Apsis#Terminology|periselenium]] of the first three orbits decreasing the [[Apsis#Terminology|aposelenium]] until it entered a final circular orbit. Lunar orbit insertion was achieved on the November 5, 2007. To mark this occasion, the probe transmitted 30 classical Chinese songs and musical pieces, including "My Motherland", "The Song of the Yangtze River", and "High Mountains and Flowing Water".{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

The probe was remotely controlled from stations at [[Qingdao]] and [[Kashgar]], as the first use of the [[Chinese Deep Space Network]].  The [[ESA]] [[Maspalomas Station|Maspalomas Tracking Station]] was also used to transmit signals to and from the probe.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

The first pictures of the Moon were relayed on November 26, 2007. The probe was designed to orbit the Moon for one year,<ref name=huixian>{{cite journal
| title=Scientific objectives and payloads of Chang'E-1 lunar satellite
| author=Sūn Huīxiān (孙辉先)
| author2=Dài Shùwǔ (代树武)
| author3=Yáng Jiànfēng (杨建峰)
| author4=Wú Jì (吴季) 
| author5=Jiāng Jǐngshān (姜景山)
| name-list-style=amp
| journal=Journal of Earth System Science
| date=2005
| volume=114
| pages=789–794
| url=http://www.ias.ac.in/jessci/dec2005/ilc-25.pdf
| doi=10.1007/BF02715964
| issue=6
|bibcode = 2005JESS..114..789H | s2cid=128428662
}}</ref> but operations were later extended, and it remained in lunar orbit until March 1, 2009.