China launched the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship on Thursday, sending three astronauts to the country's orbiting space station for a six-month mission.The spaceship blasted off at 5:17 p.m.
Beijing Time (0917 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket.
It separated from the rocket and entered the target orbit after 10 minutes.The Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, are in good physical condition, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).Read more: Meet the Shenzhou-20 crew membersThe spaceship will dock at the space station using fast automated rendezvous, after which the Shenzhou-20 crew will rotate with the three-person Shenzhou-19 crew currently working at the station.The new crew will conduct tests and research about life in space, micro-gravity physics and new space technologies.
They will also perform multiple spacewalks to install protective mechanisms against space debris and set up and retrieve devices affixed to the outside of the station.The Shenzhou-20 mission is the fifth crewed mission in the application phase of China's manned space program.
It is also the 35th launch of the program.To date, 26 Chinese astronauts have been to space.This mission is the 571st launch of the Long March rocket series and the 20th mission for the Shenzhou spaceship series.(Xu Beibei, Wu Tong and Gong Zhe contributed to this story.)