Chang'e 5

China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft successfully completed its groundbreaking mission to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon, returning to Earth after a challenging 53-day journey, as reported by AFP.

A Chinese probe carrying samples from the far side of the Moon started its journey back to Earth on Tuesday, the country's space agency said — a world first and a major achievement for Beijing's space programme.

The ascender module of the Chang'e-6 probe "lifted off from lunar surface" and entered a preset orbit around the Moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

Astronomy experts say they originally misread the secrets of the night sky last month: It turns out that a rocket expected to crash into the Moon in early March was built by China, not SpaceX.

A rocket will indeed strike the lunar surface on March 4, but contrary to what had been announced, it was built not by Elon Musk's company, but by Beijing, experts now say.

A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth on Dec. 17 with the first fresh rock samples from the moon in more than 40 years, offering the possibility of new insights into the history of the solar system and marking a new landmark for China's rapidly advancing space program.