UAE’s Amal Spacecraft Rockets Toward Mars in Arab World 1st

UAE’s Amal Spacecraft Rockets Toward Mars in Arab World 1st
An H-IIA rocket with United Arab Emirates' Mars orbiter Hope lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, southern Japan, on July 20, 2020. MHI via AP
|Updated:

TOKYO—A United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed into blue skies from a Japanese launch center on July 20 at the start of a seven-month journey to Mars on the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

The liftoff of the Mars orbiter named Amal, or Hope, starts a rush to fly to Earth’s neighbor that is scheduled to be followed in the next few days by China and the United States.