Countdown to Chinese Lunar Orbit

Topper

Mon Oct 22, 10:47 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's preparations to launch its first lunar orbiter are on schedule for lift-off later this week, a Chinese official said on Monday, as the country steps up efforts in a new international race for the moon.

The launch of the Chang'e One orbiter is set for Wednesday at 1000 GMT but could take place on the two days after then, depending on conditions, spokesman for the China National Space Administration, Li Guoping, told a news conference.

Li said the orbiter would circle the moon for over a year, mapping and analyzing its surface.

"It's implementation will lay a technological foundation for our country's development of deep space exploration activities," Li said of the launch.

The United States, Japan and India are also seeking to mark their interest in the moon with fresh exploration efforts.

In 2003, China became only the third country -- after the United States and the former Soviet Union -- to launch a man into space aboard its own rocket. In October 2005, it sent two men into orbit and it plans a space walk by 2008.

Beijing plans to follow the Chang'e One orbiter -- named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon -- with a moon rover mission, probably in 2012.

Last month, Japan launched its first lunar probe.

India is planning its first unmanned mission to orbit the moon in 2008. The United States plans to launch a lunar orbiter next year.

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Topper

By JIM YARDLEY
Published: October 25, 2007
The New York Times

BEIJING, Oct. 24 — With a regional space race heating up in Asia, China launched its first lunar probe on Wednesday as the Communist Party moved a step closer to fulfilling its ambitions of one day reaching the moon.

An animated image of the launch of China's lunar orbiter broadcast on a large screen today in Beijing.

The Chang’e-1 satellite, named after a Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, lifted off at 6:05 p.m. Officials and tourists watched the launching at a site in Sichuan Province, while state television provided coverage to the rest of the nation.

The probe is expected to orbit the moon for the next year, providing satellite images and other information as China prepares to launch a space vehicle to the moon by 2012 and then send an astronaut by 2020. Within an hour of blastoff the probe’s solar panels had been activated, and space officials declared the launching a success.

“The launch was very successful, and everything is proceeding just as planned,” Wu Ji, director of the Space Science and Applied Research Center, told Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.

In recent years, China’s space program has attracted international attention for its ambitions and fast-rising technological prowess. In 2003, China became only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to send a man into orbit — a feat it has since replicated. However, the United States and other nations reacted with alarm when China successfully blasted one of its own aging weather satellites out of orbit in a military test.

China is not the only emerging space power in Asia. Last month, Japan stole a bit of China’s thunder by launching its own lunar probe, and India plans its own lunar orbiter next year. Technological development is a motivator for all three countries, but so are nationalistic pride and regional rivalry.

“As lunar exploration embodies our overall national strength, it is very significant for raising our international prestige and our national unity,” Ouyang Ziyang, a top scientist with China’s space program, told People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s most authoritative newspaper.

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They should use that money for the people not for games