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China launches mission to complete space station assembly
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In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Long March-2F carrier rocket carrying China's Shenzhou 14 spacecraft blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Sunday, June 5, 2022. China on Sunday launched the new three-person mission to complete work on its permanent orbiting space station. - photo by Cai Yang/Xinhua via AP
BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday launched a new three-person mission to complete assembly work on its permanent orbiting space station. The Shenzhou 14 crew will spend six months on the Tiangong station, during which they will oversee the addition of two laboratory modules to join the main Tianhe living space that was launched in April 2021. Their spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert at 10:44 a.m. (0244 GMT) atop the crewed space flight program’s workhorse Long March 2F rocket.