The Tiangong space station - or "Celestial Palace" - is the culmination of nearly two decades of Chinese-crewed missions to space.
Three Chinese astronauts arrived at China’s Tiangong space station on Wednesday for their first in-orbit crew change-over.
Their spacecraft, Shenzhou-15, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Tuesday, docking with the station – one of just two inhabited outposts in low-Earth orbit alongside the NASA-led International Space Station – more than six hours later.
The Shenzhou-14 crew, who arrived in early June, will return to Earth after a one-week handover that will establish the station’s ability to temporarily sustain six astronauts, another record for China’s space programme.
Also on AF: China Gambles on Graphene to Win the Global Microchip War
The “Celestial Palace” is the culmination of nearly two decades of Chinese-crewed missions to space.
China’s manned space flights began in 2003 when a former fighter pilot, Yang Liwei, was sent into orbit in a small bronze-coloured capsule, the Shenzhou-5, and became China’s first man in space.
Astronauts at the space station are expected to conduct more than 1,000 scientific experiments – from studying how plants adapt in space to how fluids behave in microgravity.
Read more:
China Launches New Lab Module for Tiangong Space Station
China Docks Cargo Spacecraft As it Eyes First Space Station
Volkswagen executive Stefan Mecha said the firm is committed to investing $16.26 billion in the…
The real estate firm was among many Chinese developers that defaulted last year as the…
The firm said it was now "out of crisis mode” following years of painful US…
The Cyberspace Administration of China said the move was aimed at protecting supply chains and…
Musk met Li Qiang in 2019 when he was party secretary in Shanghai. Sources say…
Increasing oil deals between the two countries have already begun to corrode the US dollar’s…