See-off ceremony held for Chinese astronauts of Shenzhou-14 mission

A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 crewed space mission was held on Sunday morning 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 Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe set off at 7:56 a.m. to begin the crewed space mission to complete the construction of China's space station.

The Shenzhou-14 spaceship is expected to be launched at around 10:44 a.m. Sunday (Beijing Time), and the crew will stay in orbit for six months.

（Xinhua）