China completes its first docking in lunar orbit

China hopes to catch up with the US and Russia in the space race

The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Center, in Wenchang, Hainan province, China November 24, 2020. File photo / Reuters

A December 1 image of the moon surface taken by the panoramic camera aboard the lander-ascender combination of the Chang'e-5 spacecraft after landing on the moon. China National Space Administration (CNSA) / AFP

A Chinese national flag unfurled from the Chang'e-5 lunar probe taken on December 4. China National Space Administration / AFP

An illustration (top) and a photo (bottom) of ascender of China's Chang'e-5 probe completing rendezvous and docking with the orbiter-returner combination. China National Space Administration / EPA

China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft collects lunar samples on the moon. China National Space Administration / Reuters

The orbiter-returner combination of China's Chang'e-5 probe approaching the ascender. China National Space Administration / EPA

The ascender stage of the Chang'e-5 spacecraft lifting off from the lunar surface. China National Space Administration / EPA

This graphic simulation image provided by China National Space Administration shows the orbiter and returner combination of China's Chang'e-5 probe after its separation from the ascender. China National Space Administration / AP

A simulated image of the ascender of Chang'e-5 spacecraft blasting off from the lunar surface at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing on December 3, 2020. China National Space Administration / AP

Technical personnel monitoring the process during the Chang'e-5 lunar probe landing on the moon at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre in Beijing. AFP

Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing. Xinhua via AP

A photo from 2012 showing Chinese astronauts from Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang as they wave before a giant portrait of China's first astronaut Yang Liwei, as they depart for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China. File photo / AP Photo.

A 2018 image of the Chang'e 4 lunar probe launching from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Xinhua / AP Photo

A Chinese probe carrying samples from the lunar surface successfully docked on Sunday with a spacecraft orbiting the Moon, another space first for the nation, state media reported.

The manoeuvre was part of the ambitious Chang'e-5 mission – named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess – to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades.

The cargo capsule carrying lunar rocks and soil lifted off from the surface on Thursday, and docked with the orbiter on Sunday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Xinhua said it was China's first "rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit".

The cargo capsule's departure from the lunar surface on Thursday was also a first: the first lift-off of a Chinese craft from an extraterrestrial body.

The capsule transferred the Moon samples to the orbiter, which will separate and return to Earth, Xinhua said.

China is looking to catch up with the US and Russia after taking decades to match their achievements, and has poured billions into its military-run space programme.

Its space agency said previously that "before lift-off, the Chinese flag was raised on the Moon's surface".

Scientists hope the samples from Chang'e-5 will help them learn more about the Moon's origins and volcanic activity on its surface.

If the return journey is successful, China will become only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, after the US and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.