JIUQUAN, China — 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). It will reach the Tiangong about 6.5 hours later.

China is expected to launch a new crewed mission into space this week, as Beijing takes steady steps toward its goal of putting astronauts on the moon.