BEIJING, June 5 — China’s Shenzhou 14 spaceship with three crew members on board successfully took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) on Sunday, Xinhua reported, according to live coverage from the state-owned broadcaster China Central Television.
The Long March 2F carried rocket with the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft blasted off on schedule, at 10.44 Beijing time on Sunday (02:44 GMT).
About 577 seconds after the launch, the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft separated from the carrier rocket and entered the designated orbit; the crew are doing well, China Central Television said, adding that the launch is officially considered successful.
Shenzhou 14 is carrying cosmonauts Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang to the Tiangong Space Station.
In April, China’s Manned Space Engineering Office said that the country had scheduled six space missions by the end of 2022 to complete the construction of the national space station Tiangong.
