Three Chinese astronauts, the first since 2016, launched into space. They will begin what is expected to be a continuous Chinese presence in Earth’s

Watch Live: China Launches Astronauts to Space Station

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2021-06-17 02:00:07

Three Chinese astronauts, the first since 2016, launched into space. They will begin what is expected to be a continuous Chinese presence in Earth’s orbit for the next decade.

On a clear, sunny Thursday morning in the Gobi Desert, three Chinese astronauts lifted off. They waved to cameras in their capsule as their trip to space began. Twenty-one minutes into the mission, the director of the launch center, Zhang Zhifen, announced that it was “a complete success.”

If all now goes according to plan, they will rendezvous with China’s nascent space station later in the day. Two of the outpost’s modules were launched in April and May.

The Chinese space station, called Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, joins the International Space Station, the project led by the United States and Russia that has been continuously occupied for more than two decades.

Thursday’s launch is the third of 11 missions planned to complete construction of China’s first long-term outpost in space before the end of next year.