Chinese astronauts wave farewell ahead of Shenzhou-17 launch

Beijing pursues plans for a manned mission to the Moon by the end of the decade. On Thursday, the all-male trio will be led by Tang Hongbo, who is on his first return mission to the Tiangong space station along with other two astronauts participated in a farewell ceremony in China's Jiuquan.

The Shenzhou-17 module carrying the trio astronauts to the station is scheduled to blast off from the launch site in China's northwest. This space station is the crown jewel of Beijing's space programme, which has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon and made China the third country to put humans in orbit.