Houston Community News >> Chang'e Grabs Attention of Chinese Public

10/24/2007-- "Chang'e", known as the legendary moon goddess in China for thousands of years, has been much talked about these days because of China's launch of its first moon probe"Chang'e-1" on Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday, a kindergarten teacher in the Railway Kindergarten of Fuxing District in Handan City, Hebei Province, taught the kids to draw images of the Chang'e-1 after showing to them models and pictures of the moon and the moon orbiter.

The 2,300-kg Chang'e-1 is currently heading towards the moon, about 384,400 kilometers away from the earth, after it blasted off at 6:05 p.m. from the No. 3 launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center of southwestern Sichuan Province.

Hundreds of domestic reporters, more than 2,000 tourists from all over the country, and space experts from Japan, Germany, Italy and other countries gathered at the launch center to watch the launch.

Congratulations on the success of the launch flooded major websites of the nation.

Many said they felt "excited" to see the Chang'e-1 blast into the sky, a process broadcast live on national TV channels.

A netizen by the name of sunhongbo2007 posted a message at www.sina.com.cn saying that the launch and a series of other achievements have demonstrated the strength and the rise of the country and "we should be proud of our motherland that is growing more powerful".

Flying to the moon has been the nation's long cherished dream, as is shown in the tale of Chang'e, a legendary Chinese goddess of moon, being told for thousands of years.

The lunar orbiter is the most sophisticated satellite Chinese experts have yet handled. It showcased the development of China's innovation capacity in terms of the exploration of the outer space.

The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) published a colorful chart of China's exploration of the moon in Beijing on Wednesday to showcase the whole process.

The Chang'e-1 is designed to "live" one year till it runs out of fuels. In the course of it, the Chinese public have many things to expect, including listening to China's national anthem and "The East is Red", a tribute to late leader Mao Zedong, being played in the outer space.

(Contributed by Xinhua)