A seeing-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou-13 manned space mission is being held in the evening of Friday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

A Long March-2F carrier rocket with the spaceship atop will be launched at 12:23 a.m. Saturday Beijing Time (1623 GMT Friday).

The trio – Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu – will stay in space for six months, the longest ever in-orbit duration for Chinese astronauts.

The Shenzhou-13 mission is the second of four manned missions for the construction of China's space station.