China has successfully launched a spacecraft as part of its first-ever mission to retrieve pristine asteroid samples, in what researchers have described as a "significant step" in Beijing's ambitions for interplanetary exploration. China's Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 1.31am local time (18:30 GMT) on Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province. It was carrying the Tianwen-2 spacecraft, a robotic probe that could make China the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks. Announcing the launch, Chinese state-run news outlets said the "spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly", and that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) had "declared the launch a success". Over the next year, Tianwen-2 will approach a small near-Earth asteroid some 10 million miles (16 million km) away, named "469219 Kamoʻoalewa", also known as 2016HO3.