Chang'e-4 — launch
Date in UTC
Chang'e 4 is a robotic spacecraft mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of the CNSA. It made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon, the first spacecraft to do so, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, Queqiao, was first launched to a halo orbit near the Earth–Moon L2 point in May 2018. The robotic lander and Yutu-2 rover were launched on 7 December 2018 and entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018, before landing on the Moon's far side. On 15 January it was announced that seeds had sprouted in the lunar lander's biological experiment, the first plants to sprout on the Moon.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#2018. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- Category
- Launches and Flight Tests
- Type
- Orbital launch
- Subjects
- Space transportation
- Mission
- Chang'e-4
- Organization
- Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology
- Vehicle
- Chang Zheng 3B
- Location
- Xichang Space Center (Songlin), Sichuan, China
- Country
- CN
- Outcome
- Successful
Context and qualifications
Launch code: DS. Source references: nasaspaceflight.com; xinhuanet.com.
Sources and attribution
- Jonathan McDowell — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (opens in a new tab) — Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat), CC BY 4.0. Adapted into anniversary records. (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Chang’e 4 (opens in a new tab) — Adapted from Wikipedia contributors; selected sentences retained and edited for length, reference markers and pronunciation glosses. CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Article and edit history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Chang’e 4 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Chang’e 4 (opens in a new tab)