China has launched three astronauts into space to replace the crew on the Chinese Tiangong space station, marking a further step in the country's ambitions for a crewed mission to the moon and explore Mars.

Three Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou-20 mission have entered China's Tiangong space station, commencing a crew handover with the existing team. The six astronauts will collaborate for approximately five days,

China's Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship successfully docked with the space station late on Thursday night, according to the China Manned Space Agency.