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MOSCOW — Russia launched an unmanned probe on a daring mission to reach Phobos, a moon of Mars, and fly samples of its soil back to Earth.
The Phobos-Grunt (Phobos- Soil) craft was successfully launched early today from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The return vehicle is expected to carry up to 7 ounces of soil from Phobos back to Earth in August 2014.
The $170 million endeavor would be Russia’s first interplanetary mission since Soviet times.
