China launches Tianwen-2 mission to sample near Earth asteroid China launched its second planetary exploration mission Wednesday, sending Tianwen-2 to sample a near Earth asteroid and later survey a main belt comet.

China's Tianwen-2 will attempt to collect asteroid samples, return them to Earth, and then head out to explore a strange, dusty comet.

China's Tianwen 2 spacecraft launched on Tuesday (May 28), kicking off a bold mission to grab a sample of one of Earth's "quasi-moons" and then journey on to a mysterious comet.