Moon probe preparing to return rock samples to Earth

In this image taken by a camera aboard Chang’e 5 spacecraft provided by China National Space Administration, its shadow is reflected on the surface of the moon (China National Space Administration/AP)

China’s latest lunar probe has finished taking samples of the moon’s surface and sealed them within the spacecraft for return to Earth, the government announced on Thursday.

The Chang’e 5, the third Chinese probe to land on the moon, is the latest in a series of increasingly ambitious missions for Beijing’s space program, which also has a probe en route to Mars carrying a robot rover.