According to China Daily, China ended its lunar probe's 16-month lunar mission by successfully crashing the Chang'e I into the moon.

The lunar probe, which was sent into space back in late October 2007 to analyze the surface of the moon using camera and other instruments, hit the lunar surface at 1.50 degrees south latitude and 52.36 degrees east longitude, following a controlled maneuver, at 4:13 p.m. Sunday Beijing time. The landing was controlled by two observation stations in China's eastern Chinese port of Qingdao and its far western city of Kashgar, the agency said.

During the past 16 months, the lunar orbiter, which was named after a legendary Chinese moon goddess, has sent back about 1400Gb of scientific data including pictures of the Moon, images of the lunar surface and maps of the distribution of elements on Moon.

Ouyang Zhiyuan, chief scientist of China Lunar Exploration Project, told Xinhua:
 
"We set four major goals for this orbiting program. Through all of our scientists’ work, I think these goals were completed well. Some of the tasks were more than fulfilled."

The landing marked the first stage of China's mission to send "robotic explorers" before 2020. The second stage involves sending a second probe to practice soft landings, according to Xinhua news agency. The third phase will feature another lunar rover, which will land on the moon and return to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research, in 2017. It will be followed by a manned lunar landing, expected before 2020.

China has become the third country to send a manned flight into space, in 2003, following Russia and the United States.