Farmers in Naji village have locked up their pigs and chickens lest the imminent launch of the first Chinese moon orbiter frightens the animals.

Villagers are also being moved away two hours before blast-off in case it misfires, but they will still have a ringside seat for China’s first step in its ambitious mission to reach the Moon.

The Chang’e-1 satellite is set for launch aboard a Long March rocket some time between this evening and Friday, with the most likely slot set for today. It will be blasted into orbit from the Xichang satellite launch site in southwestern Sichuan province, carrying with it China’s hope of becoming a significant player in space.

Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist for the Chinese lunar programme, said that exploiting the Moon was important for China. “In the current international situation, if China does not do this it will be difficult to escape the fate of being left behind and beaten yet again.”

The Chang’e-1 — named after a legendary Chinese fairy who flew to the Moon — is expected to enter lunar orbit by November 5 and to beam its first photographs back to Earth late next month.

The China National Space Administration expects the satellite to spend a year gathering data.

The lunar orbiter will be followed, probably in 2012, by a Moon rover and, by 2017, a robotic mission to bring back Moon rocks.

Space officials have said that their ultimate goal is to land a Chinese astronaut on the Moon within 10 to 15 years. In 2003 China sent its first man into space with the astronaut Yang Liwei’s day-long orbit of the Earth. Two years later two astronauts spent five days in space. Mr Yang said that he hoped to start the first Communist Party cell in space once China had its own space station.

Japan, the main regional rival, said only weeks ago that its probe was in high orbit around the Moon and proceeding with a year-long project to map and study the lunar surface. The next step in the Asian space race will be the launch by India of a lunar probe, planned for next year.

Mr Ouyang told the party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily: “This lunar mission suggests a nation’s comprehensive strength and is of significance in increasing China’s international prestige.”

He dismissed criticism that China, where tens of millions live in poverty, could not afford to indulge such hubris. The initial cost was about 1.4 billion yuan (£93 million), which he estimated to be equivalent to building two stops on the Beijing underground.

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