China said Thursday it has successfully launched a rocket carrying three astronauts to its space station to replace three others who have been there since May, according to state-run media.

Carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft, the Long March-2F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's northwest province of Gansu, the China Manned Space Agency said.

The three male astronauts of the People's Liberation Army, which includes the commander, who will be the Tiangong space station's first returnee, will stay there until next April to conduct various in-orbit scientific and application payload experiments, as well as an extravehicular maintenance spacewalk, the CMSA said.

The T-shaped space station with two lab modules was completed late last year.

China plans to launch two manned spacecraft and one or two cargo spacecraft every year, according to the CMSA. The Tiangong space station has already hosted five groups of astronauts, including some when it was under construction.

China launched its first manned spacecraft in 2003, making it the third nation to put a man in space after the United States and the Soviet Union. By 2030, Beijing aims to realize a manned lunar landing.

==Kyodo

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