Applause as China's Mars probe decouples

China launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet on Thursday in a bold attempt to join United States in successfully landing a craft on red planet.

Foot from China's state broadcaster CCTV showed a Long March-5 carrier rocket taking off, with engines blazing orange, at around 12:40 p.m. from Hainan Island, south of China's mainland.

command center anunced 45 minutes after blast off that Mars probe had successfully entered scheduled orbit.

It marked second flight to Mars this week, after a United Arab Emirates orbiter blasted off on a rocket from Japan on Monday.

U.S. is aiming to launch Perseverance, its most sophisticated Mars rover ever, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, next week.

China's tandem craft — with both an orbiter and a rover — will take seven months to reach Mars, like ors.

If all goes well, Tianwen-1, or "quest for heavenly truth," will look for underground water, if it's present, as well as evidence of possible ancient life.

Unlike two or Mars missions launching this month, China has tightly controlled information about program — even withholding any name for its rover.

National security concerns have led U.S. to curb cooperation between NASA and China's program.