China launches spacecraft carrying astronauts and mice to space station

China has successfully launched a spaceship with three astronauts and four mice to its space station.

They are expected to stay at the space station for six months.

The goals of the trip include projects in biotechnology, aerospace medicine and materials science.

The mice will be used to monitor how weightlessness and confinement affect their behavioural patterns.

The China Manned Space Agency says it would like to land a person on the moon by 2030.