Chinese astronauts arrived on Wednesday at the Tiangong space station, where they carried out China’s first crew transfer to orbit, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing AFP and Agerpres.

The three astronauts lifted off aboard a Long March-2F rocket at 11:08 p.m. local time (3:08 p.m. GMT) from the Jiuquan Space Center in the Gobi desert, China News Agency reported, citing the China Space Flight Agency. with crew (CMSA).

The astronauts, three men, will stay in space for six months.

The Shenzhou-15 spacecraft, carrying veteran Fei Junlong and astronauts Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu on its maiden space flight, successfully docked with the station on Wednesday morning, CMSA said, as cited by Xinhua.

They then joined three other astronauts who had been aboard the Tiangong space station since early June.

Fei Junlong, 57, is returning to space 17 years after commanding the Shenzhou-6 mission in 2005.

What China says about its space mission

The mission’s main goals are to “carry out the first crew transfer to orbit, install (…) equipment and facilities inside and outside the space station, and conduct scientific experiments,” CMSA spokesman Ji Qiming said.

China’s manned space missions began in 2003, when former fighter pilot Yang Liwei was sent into orbit in the small bronze Shenzhou-5 capsule, becoming the first man from the country to reach space and a hero to millions of Chinese. .

The space station is both a testament to China’s growing influence and confidence in its efforts in space and a challenge to US dominance in the space after it was isolated from the International Space Station and after the US banned by law any direct or indirect cooperation between American space agency and China, Reuters notes.