The goddess who flew to the moon with an elixir and lives there still, with a rabbit and, since 2007, a space program named after her.
Documented
Written by the Warring States
Chang'e's flight appears in the Huainanzi by 139 BC and in earlier fragments: she takes the immortality elixir and rises to the moon, where the rabbit pounds medicine and the osmanthus tree regrows under the woodcutter's axe.
Assessment: Documented across two thousand years of continuous textual tradition.
Stories
Mooncakes and the missing husband
At Mid-Autumn Festival the moon is fullest, the archer husband Hou Yi sets out her favorite cakes, and families eat mooncakes in her honor. Separation turned into an annual reunion by decree of pastry.
Assessment: A living festival with an unbroken practice record. The story is told with food.
Interesting claims
The goddess got a space program
The modern layer: China's lunar orbiters and landers since 2007 are named Chang'e, and the rovers Yutu after her rabbit. State hardware now orbits the myth on a regular schedule.
Assessment: Documented nomenclature by CNSA. The moon's oldest tenant received her first mail from Earth.
Sources and further reading
Huainanzi (139 BC), the elixir flight
Mid-Autumn Festival custom records
CNSA Chang'e program naming documentation
Yutu rover naming announcements
Worth asking
When the rockets are named after the goddess, is the space program exploration or pilgrimage?