The head of China's lunar probe program has called for a thorough analysis of data collected from the test lunar orbiter, which returned on Saturday, to speed up work on Chang'e-5 and its 2017 lunar mission.

The lunar orbiter, nicknamed Xiaofei on Chinese social networks, landed in Siziwang Banner, in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, early Saturday morning after an eight-day flight. China has joined the Soviet Union and the United States to become the third nation to realize a return mission to the moon.

Search teams have already recovered the orbiter at the designated landing area, about 500 kilometers from Beijing.