BEIJING: China’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission has left the moon, carrying samples gathered on the lunar surface, BBC reported.

Sharp at 15:10 GMT, an ascent vehicle lit its engine to head up to a service module that will shepherd home the rock and dust materials.

It’s more than 40 years since lunar samples were last brought back to Earth. Chang’e-5 still has some key steps to negotiate to achieve mission success.

The ascender has to rendezvous with the orbiter, and also pass over the samples.

These will be enclosed in a module that will be aimed at Inner Mongolia. This module will have to survive a fiery, high-speed descent through Earth’s atmosphere to get to the ground.

(With inputs from Agencies)