Crowd Celebrates as China Launches First Mars Rover Mission
As China launched its first rover mission to Mars on July 23 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, onlookers on a nearby beach greeted lift-off for Tianwen-1 with applause and delight.
According to the China National Space Administration, the journey to Mars will take six to seven months.
An official statement from the administration said that after the probe arrives at its destination in February 2021, “it will spend two to three months surveying potential landing sites using a high-resolution camera to prepare for the landing in May.”
This video was posted to Weibo by a user named 费曼Bongo, who captured footage of the historic event from a beach adjoining the Hilton Wenchang in the Hainan Province. Credit: 费曼Bongo via Storyful
