BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Successful launch of China's first lunar orbiter from southwest China's Sichuan province on Wednesday evening has sent waves of excitement across the country.

It is estimated millions of Chinese people watched launch of the Chang'e-1 lunar orbiter from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, which was broadcast live on television.

At the Nanchang Aeronautics University in east China's Jiangxi province, thousands of students and staffs watched the broadcast in the university hall.

Liu Geng, a senior from the material chemistry department, said he can only describe his feelings as "ecstatic". "The successful launch inspires us to study harder, so that we can make the day come sooner for us to set foot on the moon," he said.

On Wednesday, the Beijing Planetarium opened its observatory free of charge to hundreds of students and residents who showed up to watch the moon.

Before the launch, some two thousand visitors had crowded into the small city of Xichang, paying 800 yuan (about 106 U.S. dollars) for a close-up view of the blastoff.

China's Vice-premier Zeng Peiyan, who was also present at the Xichang launch center, hailed the launch as "another milestone in China's aerospace program after the man-made satellites and manned space flights".

"The launch of Chang'e-1 means that China has taken a key step in its lunar exploration program. It is a symbol of China's bid to build an innovative country," he said.

Zeng also conveyed Chinese President Hu Jintao's congratulations and his regards to the scientists, technicians and army officers who have worked for the research, development and experiment of the lunar orbiter project.

The Chang'e-1 blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday from the No. 3 launching tower at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the 15th successful launch in a row for the rocket.

The 2,300-kg satellite will experience four accelerations and is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on November 5. The satellite will relay the first picture of the moon in late November and will then continue scientific explorations of the moon for a year.

Wednesday's launch marks the first step in China's three-stage moon mission, which will lead to a moon landing and deployment of a moon rover around 2012, and retrieval of lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research around 2017.