China's Shenzhou-16 docks with Tiangong space station

First civilian among 3 new astronauts on country's space crown jewel

JIUQUAN, Gansu - China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian scientist into space for the first time as Beijing pursues plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by the end of the decade.

The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia.

The Shenzhou-16 crew took off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-western China at 9.31am, state TV showed.

Leading the mission is commander Jing Haipeng on his fourth space trip, as well as engineer Zhu Yangzhu and Beihang University professor Gui Haichao, the first Chinese civilian in space.

The Shenzhou-16 docked at the space station's Tianhe core module at around 6pm.

Its three astronauts entered Tiangong and met three colleagues from the previous manned Shenzhou-15 flight.

They have been at the space station for six months, and will return to Earth in the coming days.