China sends two astronauts to space lab: Xinhua

China launched two astronauts into space Monday, official media said, on a mission to its orbiting laboratory as the country works towards setting up its own space station. The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off early in the morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It will take astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong two days to reach the Tiangong-2 space lab, or "Heavenly Palace-2", which was launched in September.