Crew members of the Shenzhou XIII spacecraft, Major General Zhai Zhigang (right), Senior Colonel Wang Yaping (center) and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu set out to the launch tower after a departure ceremony on Friday evening in front of their residential building at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert. (WANG JIANGBO / FOR CHINA DAILY)
JIUQUAN – A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts departing on the Shenzhou-XIII crewed space mission was held on Friday evening at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
At the command of Li Shangfu, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu set off at 9:42 pm to begin the country's longest-ever crewed space mission for the construction of China's space station.
The Shenzhou-XIII spaceship is expected to be launched at 12:23 am Saturday (Beijing Time), and the crew will stay in orbit for six months.