2007 in spaceflight Moon. Japan's Kaguya orbiter, along with the smaller Okina and Ouna relay spacecraft, was launched on 14 September. The spacecraft entered Selenocentric orbit on 3 October. China launched its first Lunar probe, Chang'e 1, on 24 October, with the spacecraft entering Selenocentric orbit on 5 November. In 2009, two satellites launched into highly elliptical Earth orbits in 2007 as part of the THEMIS mission were also sent to the Moon. They are expected to arrive in October 2010. In August, the NASA Phoenix spacecraft was launched towards Mars, followed by the Dawn mission to the Asteroid belt in September. Cassini
September 1996 lunar eclipse dark mare. This is the second of four lunar year eclipses at the ascending node of the moon's orbit. September 1996 lunar eclipse A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday, September 27, 1996, the second of two lunar eclipses in 1996, the first being on Thursday, April 4. It was part of Lunar Saros 127. The eclipse started at 0:13:59 UTC, the greatest was at 2:54:22 and ended at 5:34:51. Its length of totality lasted more than 1 hours and 9 minutes. This is the 41st member of Lunar Saros 127. The previous event is the September 1978 lunar