Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center — China launched its Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on Friday, carrying a new three-person crew to man the country's Tiangong space station on a mission focused on scientific research. The replacement crew includes China's youngest-ever taikonaut — as China's space program calls its astronauts — and, for the first time since Beijing launched its program, it will also include live mammals.

The Shenzhou-21 and its crew blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China atop a Long March-2F rocket just before midnight on Friday, or about 11 a.m. Eastern.

The taikonauts on board — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang — will rotate in so the trio currently on board the Chinese space station from the Shenzhou-20 mission, which launched on April 2

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