The service module from China's experimental round-trip moon moon mission last year was used to test maneuvers in lunar orbit, including braking into a suitable position for orbital docking. The country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) noted the progress earlier this month, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. 

These practice steps mimic maneuvers to be used in the future Chang'e 5 sample-return moon mission being eyed for 2017.

Liu Jizhong, deputy chief commander of the SASTIND's lunar probe project is reported to say that the service module has proven the reliability of key technology needed for the docking of two spacecraft in the Chang'e 5 mission: a system that launches hardware off the moon carrying lunar samples and then links up with a return-to-Earth vehicle.

The spacecraft conducting China's tests in lunar orbit was launched in October 2014. That mission also involved a successful test of a reentry capsule last November that parachuted to Earth after making a circumlunar journey.