The Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Dec.2, 2013. It will be the first time for China to send a spacecraft to soft land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body, where it will conduct surveys on the moon. (Xinhua/Li Gang)
China's lunar probe Chang'e-3 has entered the earth-moon transfer orbit after it separated from the carrier rocket, space authorities announced Monday.
Chang'e-3 arrived at the orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 380,000 kilometers as scheduled.
The lunar probe, including a lander and a moon rover, is expected to soft-land on the moon in mid-December if everything goes according to plan.
The 3.78-tonne probe, aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket, blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
