China launchs Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship

Beijing: The Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship was launched at 9:22 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The spaceship is taking three male astronauts — Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo – into space for the construction of China’s space station.

After entering orbit, the spaceship will conduct a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit space station core module Tianhe, forming a complex with the core module and the cargo craft Tianzhou-2. The astronauts aboard Shenzhou-12 will be stationed in the core module and remain in orbit for three months.