The team of two men and one woman will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months, conducting a variety of experiments and maintaining the structure. China built its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station, mainly because of U.S. concerns over the overall control over the space program by the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese Communist Party’s military arm. China’s moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. and others, including Japan and India. Besides putting a space station into orbit, the Chinese space agency has landed an explorer on Mars. China’s space authorities say they have measures in place in case their astronauts have to return to Earth earlier.

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Persons: Cai Xuzhe, Lingdong, Wang Haoze, Wang, Adek Berry, Ng Han Guan Organizations: China Aerospace Science, Technology Corporation, Getty, China Central Television, International, People’s Liberation Army, Communist, U.S, NASA, Soviet Union Locations: JIUQUAN, China, United States, AFP, Japan, India, U.S, Russian