The nation's first moon orbiter blasts off at around 6 PM tomorrow from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The circumlunar satellite, named Chang'e I after the legendary Chinese fairy who flew to the moon, and the Long March 3A carrier rocket have passed all pre-launch tests and have been transported to the launch site.

The lunar orbiter is expected to enter the Earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31; and the moon's orbit, 380,000 km from Earth, on November 5.

The satellite will relay the first pictures of the moon in late November and will continue scientific exploration for a year.

The orbiter will execute a series of projects including the capture of 3-D images and analysis of the distribution of elements on the moon's surface, according to the spokesman.

Initiated in January 2004, the moon exploration project has three stages - "Circling the moon, Landing on the moon and Return to Earth".

The latter two involve landing an unmanned rover on the moon around 2012; and bringing back lunar soil and rock samples around 2017, according to earlier reports.

(China Daily October 23, 2007)