Beijing: China sent three astronauts to its space station permanently inhabited Thursday, on its 15th space flight and 20 in general in the Shenzhou program that began more than three decades ago.
The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft and the crew took off on a long March-2F rocket of the Jiuquan satellite launch center in northwest China at 5:17 pm (0917 GMT), according to the CCTV state station.
State News Agency Xinhua He reported shortly after the launch was successful.
The launch occurs when China’s advances in lunar and spatial exploration are attracting in more countries.
Pakistan is carrying out a preliminary selection of astronauts, one of which will eventually be sent to space in the future Shenzhou steering wheel and become the first foreign astronaut to enter China’s Tiangong Space Station.
