JIUQUAN, China (AP) — China launched the first three-man crew to its new space station in its first crewed mission in five years Thursday.

The astronauts are traveling in the Shenzhou-12 spaceship launched by a Long March-2F Y12 rocket that blasted off shortly after the target time of 9:22 a.m. (0122 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China.

The launch time saw bright blue skies with near perfect visibility at the launch center on the edge of the Gobi Desert.

The two veteran astronauts and a newcomer making his first space flight are heading to the Tianhe station for a three-month stay in its main living compartment for three months while they carry out experiments, test equipment, conduct maintenance and prepare the station for receiving two additional modules next year.