China rocket taking 3 to space station to blast off Tuesday

BEIJING (AP) — The government says a rocket carrying three astronauts to finish construction of China’s space station will blast off Tuesday. The China Manned Space Agency said the crew includes a veteran of a 2005 space mission and two first-time astronauts. It said the Shenzhou-15 mission will be launched late Tuesday night. Officials say the six-month mission will be the last “in the construction phase of China’s space station.” The station’s third and final module docked with the station earlier this month, one of the last steps in a more than decade-long effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit. In 2003, China became the third country after the U.S. and Russia to put a human into space.