Three astronauts from China have entered their country's space station to replace the crew there.

A Shenzhou-19 spaceship carrying the astronauts blasted off early Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Just over eight hours later, crew members who have spent half a year aboard the Tiangong space station greeted the newcomers.

China has sent manned spacecraft twice a year to rotate crew on the space station, which was completed in 2022.

The new team of two men and one woman is scheduled to stay in the station for six months. They are expected to conduct more than 80 research and experiments in various fields, including life science and fundamental physics.

The China National Space Administration earlier this month released a space science development plan through 2050.

Its goals include building a research station on the moon and bringing back samples from Venus' atmosphere to Earth by 2035.

The plan also says China aims to reach world-leading levels in key space science areas by 2050.