In a bold attempt to join the United States in landing a spacecraft on the red planet, China launches its most ambitious Mars mission yet on Thursday. 

The rocket called a “Long March-5” rocket, departed under clear skies from Hainan Island, south of China’s mainland. With engines blazing, gathered across the bay from the launch site to watch the launch.

Li Dapeng, the co-founder of the China branch of the mars society, said, “This is a kind of hope, a kind of strength,” as he watched with his wife, 11-year-old son, and 2000 others on the beach.

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