The Telegraph
First astronauts blast off for China’s new space station
The first astronauts for China’s new space station blasted off on Thursday for the country’s longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power. The trio launched on a Long March-2F rocket for the Tiangong station, where they will spend three months, in a much-anticipated blast-off broadcast live on state TV. Lift-off happened at 9:22 am (0122 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwest China’s Gobi desert, with the rocket rising in clouds of smok