China becomes 3rd nation to land probe on Mars surface

China has become the third country to safely land an unmanned probe on the surface of Mars after the Soviet Union and United States, state-run media said Saturday.If China also successfully investigates the surface of the red planet, it would become the second nation to do so after the United States.With President Xi Jinping pledging to make China a "space power," competition in space between the world's two major powers is expected to intensify.Xi was quoted by the Global Times as saying in a congratulatory letter to the mission team, "This success marks a major step forward in the country…READ FULL ARTICLE