Blast off! China sends two astronauts to live onboard its space station in nation's longest manned mission yet

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert this morning[CN]

宇宙飞船今早在戈壁沙漠地带的酒泉发射中心起飞！

Two astronauts are onboard and they will take around two days to reach the Tiangong-2 space lab[CN]

两名飞行员登船，他们将花上2天左右到达天宫2好太空实验室。

They will remain on board for 30 days to conduct tests on spacecraft technologies and experiments[CN]

他们会登陆30天执行一些太空技术和试验的测试。

Space laboratory is part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service in 2022[CN]

太空实验室也是这项宏伟计划的一部分，计划2022年永久性载人太空站服役。

The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, the official Xinhua news agency reported[CN]

宇宙飞船在戈壁沙漠地带的酒泉发射中心起飞，官方新华新闻局报道。

Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (pictured left) and Chen Dong (pictured right) salute during the send-off ceremony of the Shenzhou-11 manned space mission, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-western Gansu Province[CN]

中国的宇航员JING Haipeng(左图）和CHEN Dong(有图）在神州11号载人太空任务送行典礼上敬礼。发射地点在甘肃省西北部的酒泉发射中心。

The two astronauts on the Shenzhou-11 ('Divine Vessel') mission will test their own health in zero gravity, cultivate rice samples, and conduct research on cold atomic space clocks that use laser cooling technology to improve accuracy, among other projects, China Daily said[CN]

这两个宇航员搭乘的Shenzhou-11号（神州飞船）会测试他们零重力下的健康状态，培植粮食样品，还有执行对空间冷原子钟的研究 - 用激光冷却技术来提高精确性，还有其他几个项目，中国日报如是说。

The two astronauts on the Shenzhou-11 ('Divine Vessel') mission will test their own health in zero gravity, cultivate rice samples, and conduct research on cold atomic space clocks that use laser cooling technology to improve accuracy, among other projects, China Daily said[CN]

这两个宇航员搭乘的Shenzhou-11号（神州飞船）会测试他们零重力下的健康状态，培植粮食样品，还有执行对空间冷原子钟的研究 - 用激光冷却技术来提高精确性，还有其他几个项目，中国日报如是说。

The Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying China's Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft, is seen before take off from the launch pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre

China is pouring billions into its military-run space programme and working to catch up with the US and Europe, with hopes to have a crewed outpost by 2022

Chen Dong (pictured left), a 37-year-old from central Henan province with twin sons, idolised his older colleague earlier in his own career

The astronauts will remain on board for 30 days - the longest stay thus far by Chinese astronauts - to conduct tests on spacecraft-related technologies and scientific and engineering experiments

After months of preparation, China has launched two astronauts into space this morning on a mission to its orbiting laboratory.  

The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off  from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert.

Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will take two days to reach the Tiangong-2 space lab, or 'Heavenly Palace-2', which was launched in September.

They will remain on board for 30 days - the longest stay so far by Chinese astronauts - to conduct tests on spacecraft-related technologies and scientific and engineering experiments.

Mr Haipeng, the mission commander, was on his third trip into orbit and will celebrate his 50th birthday in space.

'Although the job is challenging, risky and dangerous, there is nothing else I'd rather do,' he said, according to the China Daily.

China is pouring billions into its military-run space programme and working to catch up with the US and Europe, with hopes to have a crewed outpost by 2022.

Beijing sees the programme as symbolising the country's progress and a marker of its rising global stature, but so far China has largely replicated activities that the US and Soviet Union pioneered decades ago.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the mission today, urging them to aim at taking great leaps for the Chinese nation, Xinhua said.

The mission should work to ensure 'the Chinese people will take bigger steps and march further' in space, and contribute 'to the building of China into a space power', Xinhua cited him as saying. 

The Tiangong-2 lab is in orbit 244 miles (393km) above Earth and has two cabins - an hermetically sealed experiment chamber that doubles as the living quarters, and a resources store holding supplies such as solar panels, engines and batteries.

Russian space system design expert Aleksandr Zheleznyakov told Xinhua that the lab's structure indicated China's design plans for its future space station, which he expected would have a core cabin with multiple docks for different modules.

The two astronauts on the Shenzhou-11 ('Divine Vessel') mission will test their own health in zero gravity, cultivate rice samples, and conduct research on cold atomic space clocks that use laser cooling technology to improve accuracy, among other projects, China Daily said.

They will be allowed a two-hour break every evening to watch movies, listen to music and make video calls home, it added.

'We prepared more than 100 kinds of food and beverages for them in space,' deputy director of China's manned space engineering office Wu Ping told the paper, adding that they had access to a treadmill and exercise bike.

Chen, a 37-year-old from central Henan province with twin sons, idolised his older colleague earlier in his own career.

'I used to watch Jing on television and he always seemed so far away,' he said. 

'But when I met him in person, my worries and anxieties disappeared.'