China became the third country to land on Mars on Friday, joining a U.S. rover that’s been tooling around the red planet for weeks. The China National Space Administration announced that its lander had touched down, carrying a rover that will roll out in a matter of days to explore an icy expanse. NASA’s Perseverance, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter drone, has been on Mars since February. The U.S. has visited Mars nine times and is the only country to successfully operate there. The Soviet Union had a landing in 1971, but the mission was a technical failure.
