DUBAI, JULY 20 - The United Arab Emirates celebrated the launch of their Al-Amal (Hope) spacecraft on planet Mars today, the first interplanetary mission undertaken by an Arab country.
After two postponements due to bad weather, the take-off of the probe carried by a Japanese launcher from the Tanegashima space center in southwest Japan was greeted with a thunderous applause from the Emirates. Enthusiasm reigned at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (Mbrsc), which led the Emirate Martian project on which about 450 people worked, more than half of whom were Emirati.
Al-Amal is expected to reach Mars' orbit in February 2021, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the unification of the Emirates.