China’s Chang’e Moon probe braked itself into lunar orbit early Monday morning, according to officials for the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The spacecraft was dispatched to the Moon back on October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The 2,350 kilogram spacecraft is loaded with experiments, including a stereo camera, a laser altimeter, a microwave detector - with one of four objectives to create a three-dimensional survey of the Moon’s surface.

China’s lunar orbiter project, according to that country’s space officials, is priced at $187 million, with the project initiated at the start of 2004.

Just as the lunar probe made its way into Moon orbit, Chinese space officials have begun broaching the prospect of using a Long March 3B rocket to carry out the country’s second-stage Moon mission - a robotic lunar landing.

China’s three-step Moon exploration program involves launching a Moon rover in the 2012 time frame, followed by another lunar rover dedicated to returning to Earth samples of lunar regolith some five years later.

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