China’s lunar probe begins journey home with cargo of samples

An image taken by a camera aboard the Chang’e-5 spacecraft. Picture: China National Space Administration/AP

China’s lunar probe has lifted off from the moon with a cargo of lunar samples on the first stage of its return to Earth, state media reported.

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