China launched the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship on Thursday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station for a six-month mission.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off at 17:17 (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
About 10 minutes after the launch, the Shenzhou-20 spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit. The crew members, consisting of mission commander Chen Dong and crew members Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, are in good shape and the launch is a complete success, the CMSA announced.
The spaceship will then perform a fast, automated rendezvous and a docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe in about 6.5 hours, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.
Shenzhou-20 is the 35th flight mission of China's manned space program, and the fifth crewed mission during the application and development stage of China's space station.
The crew is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China in late October this year.
China launches Shenzhou-20 manned spaceship
China launches Shenzhou-20 manned spaceship
Hungarians voted in parliamentary elections on Sunday, with about 8.1 million people eligible to cast ballots, according to the National Election Office.
Polls opened at 06:00 local time and closed at 19:00, with initial results expected late on Sunday evening.
Of the total, about 7.6 million voters were eligible to cast ballots in person at more than 10,000 polling stations nationwide, while some 500,000 were eligible to vote by mail.
Five parties or alliances are competing in the election. The latest opinion polls showed strong support for both Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz-Christian Democratic People's Party alliance and the opposition Tisza party led by Peter Magyar.
Among smaller parties, the far-right Our Homeland Movement is seen as having a chance to enter parliament, while others, including the Democratic Coalition and the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party, are widely viewed as unlikely to cross the threshold.
This election marks Orban's fourth parliamentary race since returning to power in 2010, with the outcome set to determine whether he can secure a fifth consecutive term.
Under Hungary's electoral law, parliamentary elections are held every four years. The Hungarian parliament has 199 seats, including 106 filled through direct elections in single-member constituencies and 93 allocated to parties that enter parliament. The party or alliance that secures a majority of seats has the right to form a government.
Hungarians vote in parliamentary elections
