United Arab Emirates on Monday launched its first mission to Mars becoming the first Arab nation to do so. A live feed of the launch showed the rocket carrying the unmanned probe, known as “Al-Amal” in Arabic, lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan at 6:58am local time (2158 GMT). Almost exactly one hour later, the feed showed people applauding in the Japanese control room as the probe successfully detached. In Dubai, the launch was met with rapturous excitement, with the UAE Mars mission’s deputy project manager Sarah Al-Amiri declaring it “an indescribable feeling” to see the probe blasting off. “This is the future of the UAE,” Amiri, who is also minister of state for advanced sciences, told Dubai TV from the launch site. The Emirati project is one of three racing to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest
