China launches three new astronauts to its space station aboard Shenzhou-20

Beijing: China launched three astronauts to its space station on Thursday to replace their colleagues manning the station for the past six months.

The Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship carrying the astronauts blasted off at 5:17 pm (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China which was telecast live by the state television CGTN.

The spaceship is carrying three astronauts -- Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, Wang Jie and Chen Dong.

Shenzhou-20 is the 35th flight mission of China's manned space programme, and the fifth crewed mission during the application and development stage of China's space station.