interestingengineering.com
China Successfully Sends First Astronauts To New Space Station
Three Chinese astronauts successfully launched to China's new space station early on Thursday, June 17, to start running the station.
Science & Tech
After a 6.5-hour journey, the Shenzhou-12 spaceship carrying three Chinese astronauts successfully docked with the front docking port of the Tianhe at 15:54 PM local Beijing time on June 17, announced the CMSE.
This marks Tianhe's first rendezvous and docking with a Shenzhou spacecraft since it went up to orbit. Now, the astronauts are scheduled to enter the Tianhe module.
China's Shenzhou-12 mission successfully launched three astronauts at 09:22 AM Beijing time on June 17 (09:22 PM EST on Wednesday, June 16). The launch marks the first out of four planned crewed Tiangong space station missions, per CNN.
The Long March 2F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, carrying with it the three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo — who will spend three months in space aboard the Tianhe module.