On Thursday, China launched its first mission to Mars.

The mission, called Tianwen-1, was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern province of Hainan on a Long March-5 Y4 carrier rocket, reports state-run Xinhua news agency.

The China National Space Administration said the spacecraft reached the intended Earth-Mars transfer orbit after flying for approximately 2,000 seconds, officially focusing on its journey to the Red Planet that is expected to take about seven months.

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Preparations for the country’s first Mars exploration mission were completed last week-the first in the world to attempt to deploy an orbiter, lander, and rover all at once.

According to Chinese space researchers, the Tianwen-1 Mars probe is scheduled to enter Mars’ gravity field in February 2021.

Last Friday the fourth Long March-5 rocket-China ‘s largest launch vehicle so far-was transported vertically to Hainan’s Wenchang Space Launch Center. The rocket had been tested 3 times before.

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