UAE celebrates launch of first Arab interplanetary mission

Dubai (AFP) July 19, 2020

The United Arab Emirates celebrated in the early hours of Monday morning the launch of its "Hope" probe to Mars, the first interplanetary mission by an Arab nation. The long-anticipated blast-off of the unmanned spacecraft at 6:58 am local time (2158 GMT Sunday) from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center was met with rapturous applause in the Emirates. Meanwhile, the command and control centr