China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe successfully decelerated near the Moon and entered the lunar orbit, the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Saturday.
The administration said in a statement that a 3,000-newton-thrust engine on the spacecraft was activated at 8:58 pm Beijing time and worked about 17 minutes when the probe reached a position about 400 kilometers above the moon.
A key orbital control measure for any lunar mission, the braking operation was conducted to reduce the spacecraft's speed to make sure it can be captured by the moon's gravitational field rather than accidentally flying past the celestial body.
After flying four days towards the Moon, the probe successfully conducted "space braking" and entered an elliptical lunar orbit, said the CNSA.
Read more: China successfully launches Chang'e-5 to collect moon samples
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