Mars Expedition | China lands Tianwen-1 spacecraft on the Red Planet
An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on May 15, making China only the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet.
An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on May 15, making China only the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet. (Image: News18 Creative)
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Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven,” named after a two-millennia-old Chinese poem, is China’s first independent mission to Mars. China’s first Mars landing follows its launch last month of the main section of what will be a permanent space station and a mission that brought back rocks from the moon late last year. (Image: News18 Creative)
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China’s Mars mission involves three spacecrafts working together. China has landed on the moon before but landing on Mars is a much more difficult undertaking. Spacecraft use shields for protection from the searing heat of entering the Martian atmosphere, and use both retro-rockets and parachutes to slow down enough to prevent a crash landing. (Image: News18 Creative)
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a congratulatory letter to the mission team, called the landing “an important step in our country’s interplanetary exploration journey, realizing the leap from Earth-moon to the planetary system and leaving the mark of the Chinese on Mars for the first time. ... The motherland and people will always remember your outstanding feats!" (Image: AP)
![Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a congratulatory letter to the mission team, called the landing “an important step in our country’s interplanetary exploration journey, realizing the leap from Earth-moon to the planetary system and leaving the mark of the Chinese on Mars for the first time. ... The motherland and people will always remember your outstanding feats!" (Image: AP)](https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2021/05/4-china-mars-mission.jpg "Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a congratulatory letter to the mission team, called the landing “an important step in our country’s interplanetary exploration journey, realizing the leap from Earth-moon to the planetary system and leaving the mark of the Chinese on Mars for the first time. ... The motherland and people will always remember your outstanding feats!" (Image: AP)")
