StatelessPerson
change3-14
Chang'e-3 was slowed into an 100 x 100 km retrograde orbit around the Moon by 0953 UT, Friday, December 6, 2013. Engine cut-off ended a well-planned and executed 361 second firing sequence that ended an approximately 112 hour trans-lunar coast. China's third unmanned lunar mission since 2007 was originally accelerated directly into a trans-lunar trajectory from Xichang Satellite Center, at 1730 UT, Sunday December 1 (1:30 am Beijing time, Monday morning, December 2). Looking forward, orbital maneuvers are planned to bring the lowest altitude of the Chang'e-3's orbit to within 16 km over Sinus Iridum by local sunrise, December 14. Chang'e-3 is expected to perform the first soft-landing on the lunar surface in the 21st century; the first vehicle soft landed on the Moon of the millennium, first since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 sampling mission in 1976. Chang'e-3 is designed also to deploy the first remotely-controlled lunar rover since Luna 21 in 1973. Terminal velocity and landing, with engines cutting off an estimated 4 meters over the pulverized surface of Sinus Iridum, is expected to take place after local sunrise near Laplace A crater [CCTV].
change3-14
Chang'e-3 was slowed into an 100 x 100 km retrograde orbit around the Moon by 0953 UT, Friday, December 6, 2013. Engine cut-off ended a well-planned and executed 361 second firing sequence that ended an approximately 112 hour trans-lunar coast. China's third unmanned lunar mission since 2007 was originally accelerated directly into a trans-lunar trajectory from Xichang Satellite Center, at 1730 UT, Sunday December 1 (1:30 am Beijing time, Monday morning, December 2). Looking forward, orbital maneuvers are planned to bring the lowest altitude of the Chang'e-3's orbit to within 16 km over Sinus Iridum by local sunrise, December 14. Chang'e-3 is expected to perform the first soft-landing on the lunar surface in the 21st century; the first vehicle soft landed on the Moon of the millennium, first since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 sampling mission in 1976. Chang'e-3 is designed also to deploy the first remotely-controlled lunar rover since Luna 21 in 1973. Terminal velocity and landing, with engines cutting off an estimated 4 meters over the pulverized surface of Sinus Iridum, is expected to take place after local sunrise near Laplace A crater [CCTV].