The program encompasses lunar orbiters, landers, rovers and sample return spacecraft, launched using the Long March series of rockets.

[6][24] On 12 July 2023, at the 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan, Hubei province, Zhang Hailian, a deputy chief designer with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), publicly introduced a preliminary plan to land two astronauts on the Moon by the year 2030[1] using the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and the Lanyue crewed lunar lander.

[26][27] On 28 September 2024, in Chongqing, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled the extravehicular lunar spacesuit and also solicited suggestions for a name for the suit.

At present, the combination of the TT&C system and the Chinese astronomical observation network has met the needs of the Chang'e program,[36] but only by a small margin.

The complexity of the space environment encountered during the Chang'e missions imposed strict requirements for environmental adaptability and reliability of the probes and their instruments.

These accelerations were conducted 16, 24, and 48 hours into the missions, during which several orbit adjustments and attitude maneuvers were carried out so as to ensure the probes' capture by lunar gravity.

During the second phase of the program, in which the spacecraft were required to soft-land on the lunar surface, it was necessary to devise a system of automatic hazard avoidance in order that the landers would not attempt to touch down on unsuitable terrain.

Chang'e 3 utilized a computer vision system in which the data from a down-facing camera, as well as 2 ranging devices, were processed using specialized software.

It carried a European Space Agency (ESA) instrument called D-CIXS, which measured the elemental composition of the lunar surface.

It carried a laser altimeter provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which mapped the lunar topography with high precision.

Chang’e-4: The first mission to land and explore the far side of the Moon, with four international scientific payloads from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia.

Chang’e-5: The first mission to return lunar samples since 1976, with international cooperation in telemetry, tracking, and command from the European Space Agency, Argentina, Namibia, Pakistan, and other countries and organizations.