JIUQUAN, Oct. 26 -- A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou-17 crewed space mission was held on Thursday morning at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

At the command of Xu Xueqiang, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin set off at 8:26 a.m. (Beijing Time).

As of Thursday, the Shenzhou-16 crew has stayed in the country's space station for nearly five months, and is preparing for the arrival of the Shenzhou-17 crew.

The Shenzhou-17 spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 11:14 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.