BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 began its second orbital transfer on Friday afternoon, one more step forward in its 380,000-km journey to the moon.

Instruction for the orbital transfer was issued by the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) at around 4:50 p.m., aiming to transfer the satellite to an 24-hour orbit with an apogee of 70,000 kilometers, up from the former 50,000 km.

The lunar probe completed its first orbital transfer Thursday afternoon, in which it was transferred to a 16-hour orbit with a perigee of about 600 km.

Chang'e-1, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

It is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on Oct. 31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on Nov. 5.