China will send a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday evening, Beijing's manned space agency announces, the latest mission in a programme that aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030. The Shenzhou-18 mission -- crewed by three astronauts -- is scheduled to take off at 8:59 pm Thursday (1259 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the agency says. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES