The Chang’e satellite came to be China’s third major accomplishment in spacefaring, after the launch of their first satellite in space and the first manned mission. Outside of Russia and the U.S., only Europe, in a collective effort, put a satellite in orbit; but China went one step further, aiming the new satellite to the moon.

On this day, November 5, in 2007, China’s Chang’e 1 lunar satellite achieved orbit around the moon, where it would remain, mapping the surface, for the next sixteen months.

The name of the program, Chang’e, comes from a Chinese fairy tale about an angel who flies to the moon with the help of a magic potion. Some of the images the spacecraft brought back could be considered magical, rendering the surface of the moon in fantastic, three-dimensional detail.