Before the ascender was launched, the lander-ascender combination erected a small Chinese national flag to honor the country, the administration said.

The ascender will later rendezvous and dock with Chang'e 5's orbiter-reentry capsule combination, which is now traveling in lunar orbit at an average altitude of about 200 km. Next, it will transfer the lunar samples to the reentry module and then separate from the combination.

The orbiter-reentry capsule combination will later return to Earth orbit, where the pair will separate, and the reentry capsule will conduct a series of complicated maneuvers to return to Earth's land.