On the 20 July 1969, space history as made when when Neil Armstrong took mankind's first steps on the surface of the moon. Exactly 51 years to the day, space history was made again with the successful launch of the UAEs first mission to Mars.
After a few delays last week due to unfavourable weather, the Hope Probe was successfully launched into orbit form Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre at around 2am UAE time on Monday 20 July.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoun, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, shared his pride at this historic achievement with a message on Twitter. the message read. "We proudly announce the successful launch of the Hope probe. The ground control station in Dubai has received the first signal from the probe after its solar panels were successfully deployed to charge its batteries. Our 493 million km journey to the Red Planet starts here."