Yao Ming Is Now A Chinese Ambassador To Mars
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Retired basketball star Yao Ming's new role is simply out of this world.
The former Houston Rockets Centre is to become China's new "Ambassador to Mars," according to the [ South China Morning Post].
It's not yet known whether China's most famous athlete may be expected to [ team up with the Looney Tunes] to defeat aliens in a basketball tournament. For now, tour trung quoc Ming's main task is to help publicize China's plan to send a spacecraft to Mars by 2020.
China's Mars 2020 mission, [ first announced] earlier this year, is expected to carry a solar-powered probe to the surface of the red planet. It will use a Chinese-made Long March-5 rocket to launch from the Wenchang Space Centre in China's Hainan province.
Yao will be joined in his ambassadorial duties by 10 other Chinese luminaries, including science-fiction writer Liu Cixin, kynghidongduong.vn teenage boy band TFBOYS and women's Olympic gold-medal-winning volleyball team coach Lang Ping.
China isn't the only one with its eyes on Mars. Elon Musk [/news/spacex-mars-elon-musk-plans-saturn-v-rocket/ late last month outlined his plan] to colonize the planet, tour trung quoc saying he envisions self-sustaining human civilisations on Mars in the next 40-100 years.
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