China's Shenzhou-23 mission, to be launched on a Long March 2F rocket, was scheduled for 23:08 local time, 17:08 Swedish time.
The launch has now been completed, and astronaut Lai Ka-Ying from Hong Kong, aerospace engineer Zhu Yangzhu and former air force pilot Zhang Zhiyuan have all traveled into space for the first time.
A key experiment in the mission is for one crew member to stay in orbit for a full year - to study the effects of a prolonged stay in microgravity.
The step is seen as crucial to Beijing's ambitions to send humans to the Moon by 2030, in a space race in which the United States is also participating through its Artemis program.
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