China's Tianwen-2 probe captures selfie with Earth

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Wednesday unveiled a remarkable image of the Tianwen-2 probe alongside Earth, captured during its deep-space journey.

The newly released image, acquired by a monitoring camera mounted on the probe's robotic arm, showcases China's five-starred red flag and the white return capsule against the backdrop of a distant, blue Earth.

According to CNSA, the Tianwen-2 probe is currently approximately 43 million kilometers from Earth and 45 million kilometers from the asteroid 2016HO3.

The probe has successfully completed a series of in-orbit tests, including the deployment of sampling devices and self-checks of electronic devices. All systems are reported to be functioning normally, while onboard instruments have begun collecting valuable scientific data on the space environment, according to the CNSA.

China launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, on May 29 -- an endeavour to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system.

The mission aims to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P, which is farther from Earth than Mars.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 107.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 53,732.41. The Standard and Poor's 500 sank 13.23 points, or 0.17 percent, to 7,785.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 73.86 points, or 0.28 percent, to 26,729.16.

Six of the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors ended in the green, with energy and utilities leading the gainers by going up 1.36 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, health and technology led the laggards by losing 0.6 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively.