Uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully enters Mars orbit

FILE PHOTO: The Long March 5 Y-4 rocket, carrying an unmanned Mars probe of the Tianwen-1 mission, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft on Wednesday successfully entered orbit around Mars after a 6-1/2-month journey from Earth, China's space agency said, in the country's first independent mission to the red planet.

The robotic probe carried out a 15-minute burn of its thrusters at 7:52 p.m. Beijing time (1152 GMT), the China National Space Administration said in a statement, slowing the spacecraft to a speed at which it could be captured by the pull of Mars' gravity.