A crew of Chinese astronauts headed for orbit Thursday to begin a six-month-long mission aboard the Tiangong space station.

A Pakistani astronaut will become the first foreign national aboard China’s Tiangong space station, as Beijing steps up space diplomacy amid a burgeoning battle with the United States for supremacy in orbit.

China launched the Shenzhou-20 spaceship carrying three astronauts to its Tiangong space station, marking the 35th mission of its manned space program. The crew will conduct life science experiments,