China launches mission to get asteroid samples

CHINA: China on Thursday launched its first space mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid and conduct research back home, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

A successful completion of the mission could make China, a fast-growing space power, the third nation to get hold of the pristine asteroid rocks.

What do we know about the mission?

The mission began with a Long March-3B rocket carrying the Tianwen-2 probe blasting off from the Xichang launch site in southwestern Sichuan province at 1:31 a.m. local time (1731 GMT/UTC).

It took 18 minutes for the Tianwen-2 spacecraft to enter a transfer orbit for asteroid 2016HO3, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said, according to Xinhua.

“The spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly, and the CNSA declared the launch a success,” the news agency wrote.