UAE launches Mars probe from Japan

A United Arab Emirates spacecraft, named Amal (Hope), was launched early Monday from Japan, marking the start of the Arab world’s first mission to Mars. The orbiter is expected to reach its destination in February 2021 and is scheduled to spend at least two years circling the Red Planet. It was lofted into space by a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on a southern Japanese island.