Special report: China launches first lunar orbiter

    BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China officially celebrated its successful launch of the country's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, on Wednesday.

    It announced success of the first stage of its lunar probe program on Nov. 26, when the first moon picture captured by Chang'e-1 was published.

    Here are some facts Chinese scientists take pride in, revealed at the grand ceremony for the occasion held in Beijing on Wednesday morning.

    -- It's the first time for China to conduct direct probe into an outer-space celestial body other than the earth.

    -- Working staff with the probe project are on average aged below 35, youngest ever in China's space history.

    -- Chinese scientists succeeded in accurate remote control of a satellite about 400,000 kilometers away from the earth, with error rate played down from 1.7 percent to 0.03 percent for orbit control.

    -- The project realized seamless connection of domestic space control network with astro-observation network and that of European Space Agency, which provided support in remote control ofChang'e-1.

    -- China has acquired up-to-date technologies for control and navigation of satellites with high precision as well as advanced technologies for long-distance remote control and satellite thermal control without a deep space antenna.

    -- Chinese scientists built, with self-developed design and technologies, two giant antennae with diameters at 40 meters and 50 meters, the largest ever in China's history, to receive data sent back by Chang'e-1.