(JU HUANZONG)

Researchers retrieve the return capsule of China's unmanned lunar orbiter in the central region of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on November 1.

The test lunar orbiter, nicknamed Xiaofei, was launched on October 24 and traversed 840,000 km on its eight-day mission in which it rounded the far side of the moon to take some incredible pictures of Earth and the moon together.

It was the world's first round-trip mission to the moon in some 40 years, making China the third nation to do so after the former Soviet Union and the United States.