Chang'e 5 makes first step in journey home

Chang'e 5, China's largest and most sophisticated lunar probe, was launched by a Long March 5 heavylift carrier rocket early on Nov 24 at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, setting out on the world's first mission since 1976 to return lunar samples to Earth.

The spacecraft has four main components-an orbiter, lander, ascender and reentry capsule.

The spacecraft separated into two parts-the orbiter-reentry capsule combination and the lander-ascender combination-while in lunar orbit early Monday morning.

On Tuesday night, the lander-ascender combination landed on a region north of Mons Ruemker, a mountain overlooking a vast lunar mare called Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms, on the western edge of the moon's near side, becoming the third spacecraft to successfully touch down on lunar surface this century. The first two to achieve this feat-Chang'e 3 and 4-were also from China.