New crew docks at China’s first permanent space station

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese astronauts have begun their six-month mission on China’s first permanent space station, after successfully docking aboard their spacecraft. The astronauts, two men and a woman, were seen floating around the module before speaking via a live-streamed video Saturday. They are the second crew to move into the new space station, which was launched in April. The first crew spent three months at the orbiting outpost. China’s military-run space program plans to send multiple crews to the station over the next two years to make it fully functional. The new crew will do spacewalks to install equipment in preparation for expanding the station, assess living conditions and conduct experiments.