Photos: China sends three astronauts to space station

China has successfully launched a rocket to send a team of three astronauts to the nation's space station. The Shenzhou 17 blasted off at 11:14 a.m. local time, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The launch comes shortly after Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program outlined the nation's space goals for the next 15 years, including a mission to send Chinese astronauts to the moon for the first time.

The trio — (from left) Jiang Xinlin, Tang Hongbo, and Tang Shengjie — will replace a crew that has been on the station for six months. Tang is a veteran who led a 2021 space mission for three months.

China last launched a crewed rocket to its space station on May 30, when the Shenzhou 16 spaceship sent three astronauts, including veteran Jing Haipeng and scientist Gui Haichao.

During their time in space, they conducted a spacewalk and held a public lecture for Chinese students. The Shenzhou 16 crew members are scheduled to return to Earth on Oct. 31.

China’s first manned space mission in 2003 made it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the U.S. to put a person into space using its own resources.

A Long March rocket carrying a crew of Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou-17 spaceship lifts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft and a crew of three astronauts, lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, in northwest China on October 26, 2023.

A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft and a crew of three astronauts, lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, in northwest China on October 26, 2023.

A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft and a crew of three astronauts, lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, in northwest China on October 26, 2023.