BEIJING: China’s Chang’e-5 mission has returned to Earth with rock and “soil” it picked up off the Moon, BBC said.

A capsule carrying the materials from the Moon landed in Inner Mongolia on Thursday.

It’s more than 40 years since the Apollo of America and Soviet Luna missions brought their back the samples, according to BBC.

The new specimens is said to provide insight on the geology and early history of Earth’s satellite.

(With inputs from BBC)