The three-man crew can be in orbit for 3 months.
The first group of Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the nation’s under-construction space station, a significant step in China’s plans to have a totally functioning station by subsequent yr.
On Thursday afternoon, the Shenzhou-12 spaceship, carrying the three astronauts, accomplished an “automated rendezvous and docking” with the Tianhe module, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) stated, including this “signified that for the first time the Chinese have entered their own space station”.
Shenzhou-12 was launched on Thursday morning from the Jiuquan launch centre in the Gobi desert, and the astronauts entered Tianhe around six and a half hours later, the agency said.
The three-man crew will be in orbit for three months. This is the first of two manned space missions planned for this year, part of an intense schedule of launches aimed at completing the space station in 2022.
The official Xinhua news agency said the mission will “assist take a look at applied sciences associated to long-term astronaut-stays and well being care, the recycling and life help system, the provision of space supplies, extravehicular actions and operations, and in-orbit upkeep.”
The Shenzhou-12 mission follows a busy few weeks for China’s space programme, coming after final month’s launch of the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, which carried important provides for the space station.
At least 5 extra missions are deliberate for the yr, with the Shenzhou-13 manned mission, additionally carrying three astronauts, set for later this yr. The Tianhe module was launched in April, whereas the second and third modules to finish the space station will even be launched in coming months.
China final month landed a spacecraft on Mars carrying its first Mars rover, known as Zhurong. The space company final week launched images captured of the planet’s terrain by Zhurong, hailing the success of its first Mars rover mission.
