The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will launch its first-ever interplanetary mission today (July 19), and you can watch the historic liftoff live.

The Emirates Mars Mission, also known as Hope, is scheduled to launch atop an H-IIA rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center today at 5:58 p.m. EDT (2158 GMT; 6:58 a.m. July 20 Japan Standard Time. You can follow the action live here at Space.com courtesy of the UAE Space Agency and the Dubai One news channel, or directly via the latter two organizations here.

Let’s talk about science! In the latest episode of #EZScience, learn about the upcoming launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover targeted for liftoff on July 30. Dr. E and Dr. Z talk about the technological advancements of the newest Mars rover (and helicopter!).

Here’s what you need to know about the United Arab Emirates’ first interplanetary spacecraft, the Hope mission to Mars.

The fourth Long March-5 rocket, to be used to launch China’s first Mars exploration mission — the Tianwen-1 — was vertically transported to the launching area at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province on Friday.

#OTD 51 years ago, Apollo 11 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with NASA Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon’s surface, while Collins orbited overhead in the Command Module: https://go.nasa.gov/3j7tRV0

The first images from the Solar and Heliospheric Imager, or SoloHI instrument, reveal the zodiacal light (the bright blob of light on the right protruding towards the center). Mercury is also visible as a bright dot on the image left. The straight bright feature on the very edge of the image is a baffle illuminated by reflections from the spacecraft’s solar array.

Credits: Solar Orbiter/SoloHI team (ESA & NASA), NRL

Images from the Polar and Helioseismic Imager, or PHI, showed it is also primed for later observations. PHI maps the Sun’s magnetic field, with a special focus on its poles. It will have its heyday later in the mission as Solar Orbiter gradually tilts its orbit to 24 degrees above the plane of the planets, giving it an unprecedented view of the Sun’s poles.

The launch of the United Arab Emirates’ Hope Mars mission has been further delayed by bad weather at the launch site.