The trio of astronauts — two men and a woman — blasted off aboard their Shenzhou 10 spacecraft toward the Tiangong 1 module from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert at 5:38 a.m. EDT (9:38 GMT) — 5:38 p.m. local time.

Shenzhou 10's astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping — the second female Chinese spaceflyer — are the fifth Chinese crew to launch into space. The Long March 2F rocket carrying the three spaceflyers is the heaviest ever launched by the nation.