A Pakistani astronaut will become the first foreign national aboard China’s Tiangong space station, as Beijing steps up space diplomacy amid a burgeoning battle with the United States for supremacy in orbit.

China has launched three astronauts to replace the crew on the Chinese Tiangong space station. The Shenzhou 20 spaceship took off as planned atop China’s workhorse Long March 2F rocket at 5:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT).

A spaceship carrying three astronauts docked Thursday with China’s space station in the latest crew rotation, marking a further step in the country’s ambitions for a crewed mission to the moon and explore Mars.