-- A Chinese spacecraft streaked down through the Martian sky on Saturday, becoming the country's first probe to land on a planet other than Earth.

-- It is the first time in the world that orbiting and landing on Mars is completed in one launch mission.

-- After flying for approximately three hours, the entry capsule hurtled toward the red planet and entered the Mars atmosphere at an altitude of 125 km, initiating the riskiest phase of the whole mission.

-- It will take a further seven to eight days for the rover to detect the surrounding environment and conduct self checks before moving down from the lander to the Martian surface.

by Xinhua writers Yu Fei, Quan Xiaoshu and Li Mi

BEIJING, May 15 -- A Chinese spacecraft streaked down through the Martian sky on Saturday, becoming the country's first probe to land on a planet other than Earth.

The lander, carrying a Mars rover, touched down at its pre-selected landing area in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, at 7:18 a.m. (Beijing Time), the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.