The three astronauts on board the Shenzhou-20 have successfully docked with the Tiangong space station, according to state media.

The three-man crew blasted off on Thursday and will spend six months on the space station.

Speaking on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme, Joe Michalski, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the Shenzhou crew would carry out some important experiments during their mission.

"One of the more exciting ones is this idea of life experiments to life response in space to challenges of radiation and low gravity and other types of exposure," Michalski said.

"So any kind of life experiments that we can carry out will inform how life forms of other types would respond in the future because we're aiming toward long-term habitability in space for everyone."

Professor Michalski also said the mission was a good way for China to deepen its talent pool of astronauts.

"This will allow for other astronauts, or taikonauts, to progress into leadership roles and have more experience in space because it's such a challenging environment that affects the body and mind in such a challenging way."