Three Chinese astronauts land at space station

The rocket taking off from the Jiuquan launch center. Pic/AFP

Three Chinese astronauts, including a woman, made a smooth entry into the orbiting space station after the successful launch of their spaceship on Wednesday to man the station for the next six months.

The three astronauts of China's Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission have entered the Tiangong space station and met with another astronaut trio starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

China built its space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) over concerns that China's space programme is manned by its military. It is the only country to have a space station.

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