An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on May 15, making China only the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet. (Image: News18 Creative)

Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven,” named after a two-millennia-old Chinese poem, is China’s first independent mission to Mars. China’s first Mars landing follows its launch last month of the main section of what will be a permanent space station and a mission that brought back rocks from the moon late last year. (Image: News18 Creative)

China’s Mars mission involves three spacecrafts working together. China has landed on the moon before but landing on Mars is a much more difficult undertaking. Spacecraft use shields for protection from the searing heat of entering the Martian atmosphere, and use both retro-rockets and parachutes to slow down enough to prevent a crash landing. (Image: News18 Creative)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a congratulatory letter to the mission team, called the landing “an important step in our country’s interplanetary exploration journey, realizing the leap from Earth-moon to the planetary system and leaving the mark of the Chinese on Mars for the first time. ... The motherland and people will always remember your outstanding feats!" (Image: AP)

Mars Expedition | China lands Tianwen-1 spacecraft on the Red Planet

An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on May 15, making China only the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet.