The lander was switched to dormant mode at 1:30 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time) as scheduled, and the rover, Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2), at 1:48 a.m. Friday, said the centre.
As of 6 a.m. on Sunday, the probe had flown in space for 163 days and was about 130 million km from Earth and about 8.3 million km from Mars, reports Xinhua news agency.
Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA, handed over the samples to Hou Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The orbital correction was conducted at 11.13 a.m. when the two 25N engines on the orbiter-returner combination were operational for about 28 seconds, reports Xinhua news agency.
Four 150N engines on the orbiter-returner combination ignited when they were 230 km away from the lunar surface and shut down after 22 minutes, Xinhua news agency quoted the administration as saying in a statement.
By using data sent back by the probe, researchers simulated the sampling procedure in a lab, providing an important basis for the operation on the moon.
