(Update: adds launch)
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center,
The launch took place at
The astronauts will continue the construction of the space station, which
The deputy director of the
Zhai traveled to space in 2008 aboard the Shenzhou VII and Wang was part of the Shenzhou X mission in 2013.
It is Ye Guangfu's first trip to space.
These "Taikonauts," as Chinese spacewalkers are called, will spend six months at
This will the most time Chinese astronauts will have ever spent in space.
However, according to Lin, stays of six months will be "common" in future missions, so one of the objectives of this mission is to test the astronauts and the facilities' capacity for extended stays.
Lin said the crew will perform "two to three" spacewalks to install a small robotic arm onto a larger one and conduct scientific experiments in various fields, including space medicine and microgravity physics.
On Thursday, Wang announced she would give a lecture during the mission, as she did on her previous trip to space to some 60 million Chinese students in schools across the country.
Wang could also become the first Chinese woman to complete a spacewalk.
The
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