World
China Launches Mars Mission in New Space Challenge to U.S.
- Tianwen-1 probe is part of China’s plan to close gap with NASA
- Covid woes contribute to delay of Europe-Russia joint mission
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China embarked on its most ambitious space mission yet, launching a probe to Mars on Thursday that ramps up the nation’s challenge to NASA’s dominance in space.
A Chinese-made rocket took off from Hainan Island carrying the Tianwen-1 probe, the People’s Daily said on its Twitter account, on the initial leg of its seven-month journey to Earth’s neighbor, traveling 3 miles per second as the program tries to make China a space superpower. Last year, it became the first nation to land a probe on the far side of the moon.