A see-off ceremony for the three astronauts of the upcoming Shenzhou-12 manned space mission was held in the early morning on June 17th at the square of the apartment compound Wentiange, or "Ask-the-Sky Pavilion," of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
At the command of Li Shangfu, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, three astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo set out with confidence and resolve at 6:32 a.m. on Thursday (Beijing Time), embarking on a three-month mission and will be the first space visitors since China's manned space mission entered the in-orbit assembly and construction phase of the space station.