In the latest move in its ambitious space program, China launched a manned spacecraft from the Gobi Desert on Monday morning.
Images broadcast on CCTV showed the astronauts giving a salute seconds before launch, and 15 minutes later they could be seen on the live feed clasping their gloved hands, apparently a sign of a successful launch.
The spacecraft, called Shenzhou-11, is to dock with an orbiting space laboratory launched last month.
The astronauts are expected to stay in the Tiangong-2 lab for 30 days before returning to Earth, the deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, Wu Ping, said before the launch.