The Mengtian lab module has successfully docked with the under-construction Tiangong space station.

Mengtian, which was blasted into space on Monday afternoon, docked with Tianhe, the space station's core module, at 4:27am on Tuesday Beijing time after entering the planned orbit.

The China Manned Space Agency said the flight and docking mission took about 13 hours.

The Mengtian module, together with Tianhe and the Wentian lab module, will form the space station's basic configuration in T shape.

Three astronauts arrived at the space station in June and are on a six-month stay there. (Additional reporting by Xinhua, AP)