Watch Live: China to Launch Astronauts to Space Station

Three Chinese astronauts, the first since 2016, are set to launch into space. They will begin what is expected to be a continuous Chinese presence in Earth’s orbit for the next decade.

There will soon be two places in orbit where astronauts live. On Thursday, three Chinese astronauts will lift off from the Gobi Desert and, if all goes according to plan, rendezvous with China’s nascent space station. Two of the outpost’s modules were launched in April and May. The Chinese space station, called Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, joins the International Space Station, the project led by the United States and Russia that has been continuously occupied for more than two decades.