When its Mars rover, Zhurong, touched down on the Red Planet on Saturday, China became the first country to carry out an orbiting, landing and roving operation during its first mission to Mars. China’s space missions• China has come a long way in its race to catch up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration. It has now sent astronauts into space, powered probes to the Moon and landed a rover on Mars. • China successfully launched the first module of its new space station last month with hopes of having it crewed by 2022. The Tiangong space station is to be located and operated in Low Earth Orbit, 350 km to 435 km above Earth, for an initial period of 10 years.

Source: The Hindu May 18, 2021 05:13 UTC