3 astronauts successfully dock at Chinese space station

The spacecraft, onboard the Long March-2F rocket, blasted off at 04.27 am local time on Wednesday (2027GMT, Tuesday) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia in the Gansu province.

Cai Xuzhe, 48, Song Lingdong, 34, and Wang Haoze, 34 are on board the spacecraft.

Wang is the first Chinese woman astronaut while Cai is serving as the commander of the latest mission. It is Cai’s second mission in 22 months.

The crew met other astronauts, known as taikonauts in China, to begin a new round of in-orbit crew handover.

The Shenzhou-19 crew members will take control of space operations from the Shenzhou-18 taikonauts, who are preparing to return home after conducting six months of research in space.

“We have been training as a team for more than a year, maintaining the best condition and the highest standards,” Cai said ahead of the launch.

China first launched its crewed mission, Shenzhou-5, in 2003.

Ye Guangfu and teammates Li Cong and Li Guangsu of the Shenzhou-18 crew are currently on board China's indigenously built Tiangong space station.

Beijing launched the Shenzhou-18 crew on April 25 and they are expected to return on Nov. 04 at the Dongfeng Landing Site.