The craft called, Amal, Arabic for Hope, had reached the end of its seven-month, 300-million-mile journey and had begun circling the red planet, where it will gather detailed data on Mars’ atmosphere.

As soon as the word came that the spacecraft entered Mars orbit, ground controllers at the UAE’s space center in Dubai broke into applause and celebrated the success.

The orbiter fired its main engines for 27 minutes in an intricate, high-stakes maneuver that slowed the craft enough for it to be captured by Mars’ gravity. It took a nail-biting 11 minutes for the signal confirming success to reach Earth.

Tensions were high: Over the years, Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of missions from various countries.

A visibly relieved Omran Sharaf, the mission’s director, declared, “To the people of the UAE and Arab and Islamic nations, we announce the success of the UAE reaching Mars.”

Two more unmanned spacecraft from the U.S. and China are following close behind, set to arrive at Mars over the next several days. All three missions were launched in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars.

Amal’s arrival puts the UAE in a league of just five space agencies in history that have pulled off a functioning Mars mission. As the country’s first venture beyond Earth’s orbit, the flight is a point of intense pride for the oil-rich nation as it seeks a future in space.

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It will now launch on Friday ,July 17, at 12.43 am UAE time.

The UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, have announced a new launch date for the Hope Probe to Mars.

— UAEGOV (@UAEmediaoffice) July 14, 2020

The probe’s launch from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre, represented the launch window of the Emirates Mars Mission, which extends to August 13, 2020. Regardless of the time of its launch, it is expected to reach the Martian orbit on February 2021

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