A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou-15 manned space mission was held on Tuesday evening at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
At the command of Xu Xueqiang, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu set off at 8:19 p.m. (Beijing Time).
According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the three astronauts have received years of arduous training for this six-month mission, during which the construction of China's space station will be officially completed.
The Shenzhou-15 spaceship is expected to be launched at 11:08 p.m. Tuesday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
