Chinas manned Shenzhou 11 spacecraft has successfully docked with its space lab

Two astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, have entered the lab to begin a 30-day stay, spending a total of 33 days in space, the longest yet for China. Advancing Chinas space programme is a priority for Beijing, aiming to have a more permanent space station and the possibility for manned trips to the Moon and Mars as well as operating the worlds largest radio telescope.

The manned spacecraft launched by China on Monday (17 October) morning from the Gobi desert has successfully completed its docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab early on Wednesday, 19 October. The two astronauts on board the Shenzhou-11 monitored and reported the automated docking operation.

The Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) said the spacecraft began to approach the Tiangong-2 space lab automatically at 1.11am Beijing time on Wednesday (6.11pm BST on Tuesday) and made contact with the space lab at 3.24am. The spacecraft docked at 3.31am, the centre added.

Sun Jun, deputy chief engineer of BACC, told Chinas official news agency Xinhua that the mission required a higher precision for the orbit prediction and automated docking calculation, compared to previous docking missions.

Following the docking, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, the two astronauts enter the space lab and stay there for the next 30 days conducting various experiments as per their mission schedule.

China is the third country in the world, after the US and Russia, to successfully complete space missions and docking procedures. The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft is Chinas sixth manned space vessel and it is now on the longest-ever space mission for China.

China had sent the Tiangong-2 space lab into space on 15 September, marking a major achievement in the countrys space mission. Xinhua reported that the space station is regarded as Chinas first space lab in the strict sense. The Tiangong-2 is seen as a key step in building a permanent space station, hopefully by 2020.

Trending now