Chang'E 2 launches to the Moon

Congratulations to China! Chang'E 2 successfully lifted off at 10:59:57 UTC today, October 1, 2010 aboard a Long March 3C rocket. Unlike its predecessor, Chang'E 2 rocketed directly to a lunar transfer orbit and will arrive at the Moon only 112 hours after launch (according to the Xinhua news agency). That would put its lunar arrival at about 03:00 on Wednesday, October 6. Here is some really terrific video coverage of the launch from CCTV. I'm sorry that it autoplays; I can't figure out how to prevent it from doing that.

Here are a few snapshots from the launch, taken from the wonderful slideshows at SINA.com.