The three astronauts aboard China's Shenzhou-20 spaceship have entered the country's space station and met with another astronaut trio in the early hours of Friday, starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover.

The Shenzhou-19 crew opened the hatch at 1:17 a.m. (Beijing Time) and greeted the new arrivals, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The six crew members then took group pictures for the sixth space get-together in China's aerospace history.

They will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work, the CMSA said.

The Shenzhou-19 crew is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 29.