China on Friday successfully launched the Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship in the latest chapter of the country's space programme.

The spacecraft, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 11.44pm, sending astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang to the orbiting Tiangong space station on a six-month mission.

After about 10 minutes, Shenzhou-21 separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit.

The launch was declared a complete success by the China Manned Space Agency.

Zhang Lu is the commander of the mission. He was a crew member of the Shenzhou-15 mission.

Wu and Zhang Hongzhang are on their first spaceflight mission.

Also on board the spaceship are four lab mice, which are being transported to Tiangong to be raised in orbit for five to seven days, marking the country's first scientific experiments involving mammalian models in space.

There will be a total of 27 new science and application projects for the crew in the space station, covering space life sciences and biotechnology, space medicine, space material science, microgravity fluid physics and combustion, and new space technologies.

Shenzhou-21 is expected to dock with Tiangong about 3 1/2 hours after takeoff, and its crew will complete in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-20 crew.

The Shenzhou-20 crew has been in orbit for 188 days and is expected to set a new record for the longest stay in orbit by a Chinese astronaut crew. They will return to the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia after completing the in-orbit handover with the Shenzhou-21 crew. (Xinhua and agencies)
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Last updated: 2025-11-01 HKT 00:26