Mission record
Chang'e 3
Also known as Change3, Chang'e 3 Lander
China National Space Administration · Launched
Explore trajectoryCompleted · Success
The first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years, which delivered the Yutu rover to Mare Imbrium.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Long March 3B/E
- Launch site
- Xichang, Peoples Republic of China
- Countries
- Peoples Republic of China
- Mission types
- Lander, Rover
Chronology
Mission timeline
Launch
Chang'e 3 launched on a Long March 3B from Xichang Satellite Launch Center
Orbit insertion
Insertion into a 100 km circular lunar parking orbit after a 361-second braking manoeuvre
Moon
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- Chang'e 3 landed hardware: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · bounded LROC fixed-site estimate · December 16, 2013 to January 15, 2014
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through September 14, 2026
- Chang'e 3 - NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- LROC Science Operations Team: Coordinates of Lunar Anthropogenic Targets (28 July 2016) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- GRAS Chinese lunar exploration science catalog and original product descriptions — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- CNSA: original Yutu surface photograph — CNSATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context