Chinese spacecraft successfully docks with crewed mission
A Chinese spacecraft carrying a three-person crew, including the country's first female space engineer, has successfully docked after a journey of over six hours.
The crew will use the homegrown space station as a base for six months to conduct experiments and carry out spacewalks as Beijing gathers experience and intelligence for its eventual mission to put someone on the Moon by 2030, News.Az reports, citing BBC.Beijing declared the launch of Shenzhou 19 a "complete success" - it is one of 100 launches China has planned in a record year of space exploration as it tries to outdo its rival, the United States.
Flames shot out of the rocket launcher as it took to the skies, lighting up the Gobi Desert with a deafening roar.
Hundreds of people lined the streets, waving and cheering the names of the taikonauts, China’s word for astronauts, as they were sent off.
Just two years ago, President Xi Jinping declared that "to explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is our eternal dream”.
But some in Washington see the country’s ambition and fast-paced progress as a real threat.
in Dongfeng Space City, a town built to support the launch site, China’s space programme is celebrated.
Every street light is adorned with the national flag.
Cartoon-like astronaut figurines and sculptures sit in the centre of children’s parks and plastic rockets are a centrepiece on most traffic roundabouts.
A huge poster with Xi Jinping on one side and a photo of the Shenzhou spacecraft on the other greets you as you drive into the main compound.
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