Shenzhou XVIII manned spaceship docks with space station combination

BEIJING -- Shenzhou XVIII manned spaceship successfully docked with the space station combination early on Friday morning, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The spaceship made a fast, automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station's core module Tianhe at 3:32 am (Beijing Time).

The whole process took approximately 6.5 hours, said the CMSA.

The taikonaut trio aboard the spaceship will then enter the Tianhe module and the Shenzhou XVII crew have got ready for their arrival. The two crews with an average age of less than 40 years old are about to meet in the Tiangong space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China Thursday (Beijing Time).