Lunar probe Chang'e I completed its fourth orbital transfer Wednesday afternoon, a critical step in the journey to the moon.

Thirteen minutes after the engine on the probe was started at 5:15 pm, the probe was shifted to the Earth-moon transfer orbit with an apogee of about 380,000 km.

The main engine of Chang'e I started operation and helped raise the speed to 10.916 km per second in the few minutes before the satellite reached the "entrance" of the Earth-moon transfer orbit, said Zhu Mincai, head of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).

"It's a success-or-failure point and we have only one shot as the fuel carried on the Chang'e I is limited," Zhu said earlier.

"If the orbiter misses the entrance, it will continue on the Earth orbit instead of flying to the moon."

The probe is estimated to fly another 114 hours before it reaches the moon orbit on November 5, the next big moment in the fate of the country's first moon orbiter, said Ha...

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