China's moon orbiter Chang'e One lifted off under cloudy skies yesterday without a hitch at 6:05PM from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Thirty-seven minutes later, the Chang'e One satellite separated from the carrier rocket on a trajectory to reach lunar orbit on Nov. 5.

"The launch was very successful, and everything is proceeding just as planned," said Wu Ji, director of the Space Science and Applied Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Chang'e One, which has been named after the Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon, was carried by a three-stage Long March 3A rocket. Because the launch pad is close to a village, the inhabitants had to be evacuated two hours prior to the launch.

Also, personnel at the launch site retreated to two nearby shelters 15 minutes before the ignition of the orbiter, with one in a cave 60 yards away from the launch pad and the other in an underground observation room 200 yards away. Long March 3A carrier rocket has now completed 15 consecutive successful launches including the orbiter.

"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.

Chang'e One is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on November 5, after being maneuvered at least 10 times by Chinese satellite experts. The Chang'e is believed to be the most advanced satellite ever made by China, and will perform various scientific tasks for a year.

The sattelite will be tracked through a technique called VLBI or Very Long Baseline Interferometry. VLBI is a large astronomical radio monitor which locates moving objects in space by tracking their radio waves.

In 2003, China became the third country, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to launch a man into space aboard its own rocket. In October 2005, China sent two men into orbit, while it plans a space walk by 2008 and to place a man on the moon by 2020.