China's first female astronaut has launched into space as part of a mission to build a fully operational space station within the decade.

A Long March rocket blasted off at 6.37pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert on Saturday, carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and three astronauts, including female fighter pilot Liu Yang.

Liu, 33, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang are to dock with a prototype space lab launched last year in a key step toward building a larger, more permanent space station by 2020. They are to work there for about a week.

While two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems, the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies.

China's space programme chief, Chang Wanquan, a general in the Chinese army and a member of the ruling Communist party's central military commission, declared the launch a success. China is already planning another mission to the space lab later this year. Other future missions could include sending a man – or indeed woman – to the moon.

China hopes to join the US and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit. The three are the only countries to have launched manned spacecraft on their own volition.

China has had only limited co-operation with other nations and space programmes. It was excluded from work with the International Space Station, largely due to the objections of the US – seen as one of the key spurs for the launch of its independent space programme 20 years ago – although in more recent years the head of the European Space Agency has mooted China's inclusion in the ISS partnership. Nasa's chief, Charlie Bolden, said in 2011 that "any mission to Mars is likely to be a global effort".

The space programme is a source of huge national pride in China and reflects its rapid economic and technological progress and ambition to rank among the world's leading nations. The selection of a female astronaut also gives the mission a notable first for any country.

In a statement read to Chinese technicians involved in the launch, the Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, said: "I urge you to carry forward the spirit … and make new contributions to advance the development of our country's manned space mission."

China first launched a man into space in a 2003 solo mission. This was followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008.