China extends its reach into the Solar System with launch of asteroid mission

A Chinese spacecraft built to collect specimens from an unexplored asteroid successfully launched on Wednesday from a military-run spaceport.

The Tianwen-2 mission, which follows the historic Tianwen-1 Mars landing in 2021, lifted off aboard a Long March 3B rocket at 1:31 pm EDT from the Xichang launch base. Shortly after launch, Chinese officials confirmed that the 2.1-metric ton spacecraft unfurled its solar arrays, marking the beginning of a decade-long tour of the Solar System.

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