Chinese spacecraft arrives in orbit around the lunar surface

A Chinese spacecraft service module has arrived in orbit around the lunar surface, after being extensively used for months in China’s landmark test flight that also sent a return capsule to Earth after a flight around the moon.

The service module from China’s first test flight that was planned to orbit the moon, entered orbit around the moon this week, according to Chinese national media.

At present the craft is flying in an eight hour orbit around the moon which would take it to within 125 miles of the lunar surface at the closest point and out to a range of 3,293 miles at the highest point.

Chief engineer Zhou Jianlian of Beijing Aerospace Control Center said that the module will be making its second and third braking in the early hours of 12^th January and tomorrow, Beijing time. This shall enable the module to enter a 127 minute orbit around the moon.

There have been reports that a camera system has been mounted on board the service module in order to identify possible landing spots for the future Chang’e 5 mission that will bring back lunar samples to Earth via a robot.

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About Cliff Jenkins Scott

Cliff likes to describe himself as made for the hard road. Freelancing is taking off across the world. And yet, valuable opportunities are hard to find he thinks, particularly when it comes to writing. After graduating with an MA degree in Communication as a major and Technology and Writing as minors, Cliff decided to give his own website hosting creative writing a boost and engage in an overwhelming number of projects, all of them focused on writing. He didn’t look for a quick burnout, but his eagerness to learn as much as possible as rapidly as possible kept him going.