Jun

2012

2:03pm, EDT

Ng Han Guan / AP

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket lifts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, June 16. China sent its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit.

China sends its first woman into outer space

The launch, which was broadcast on Chinese state central television, was a popular topic on China’s twitter-like service, Weibo. There were over 372,000 posts on the microblog service with the hash tag, “Shenzhou 9 is launching today.”

"My whole family sat in front of TV and watched the whole launch. I almost had a heart attack. It's successfully launched! We're so excited and happy!" wrote one happy poster.

“I happened to watch the launch, everyone just held breath when they did countdown,” wrote another poster. “To be honest, many things have made me less confident lately, but at this moment nothing can stop this exciting patriotism."

-- Reported by NBC news and news services

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