Three Chinese astronauts arrived at the country's space station on Sunday, the Chinese space agency for human flights said, the latest stride in Beijing's aim to become a major space power.

The trio blasted off in a Long March-2F rocket at 0244 GMT from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China's Gobi desert, reported state broadcaster CCTV.

The team is tasked with "completing in-orbit assembly and construction of the space station", as well as "commissioning of equipment" and conducting scientific experiments, state-run CGTN said Saturday.

The astronauts entered the central module of the Tiangong station at around 1250 GMT, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. The journey took about "seven hours of flight", CCTV reported.

Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace", is expected to become fully operational by the end of the year.

China on Sunday launched a new three-person mission to complete assembly work on its permanent orbiting space station.

Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin flew six tourists into space for a 10-minute ride Saturday, successfully carrying out its fifth crewed mission.

The white spacecraft called New Shepard lifted off with a roar from a desert spot in west Texas at 8:26 local time (1326 GMT).

The crew hooted with glee as the rocket reached space, a Blue Origin webcast showed.

The flight included engineer Katya Echazarreta, who at 26 became the youngest American woman in space. The Guadalajara native also became the first Mexican-born woman to go into space.