Chinese spacecraft successfully lands on surface of Mars, says state media

China’s “Zhurong” rover successfully landed on Mars Saturday, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing’s increasingly bold space ambitions. The lander carrying Zhurong completed the treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute to navigate the “seven minutes of terror” as it is known, aiming for a vast northern lava plain known as the Utopia Planitia. The mission “successfully landed in the pre-selected area”, state broadcaster CCTV said, while the official Xinhua news agency cited the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in confirming the touchdown. It makes China the first country to carry out an orbiting, landing and roving…