International Desk: Chinese astronauts arrived at the Tiangong Space Center on Wednesday (November 30). There they completed the nation’s first crewed transfer to orbit. Al-Jazeera reported this information with reference to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
According to the report, Xinhua quoted the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) as saying that the three astronauts took off from the Jiuquan Launch Center in China’s northwestern Gobi Desert on a ‘Long March-2F’ rocket at 11:08 p.m. local time.
The rocket carrying veteran astronaut Fei Junlong and first-time companion astronauts Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu successfully docked with the space station on Wednesday morning, Xinhua reported. They then joined three other astronauts at the Tiangong Space Center since early June.
Fey, 57, is returning to space after 17 years. He led the ‘Shenzhou-6’ mission in 2005.
CMSA spokesman Ji Qiming said the main tasks of the mission were to deliver a crew to orbit for the first time, install various facilities inside and outside the space station, and conduct scientific experiments.
The Tiangong Space Center is the crown jewel of Beijing’s ambitious space program.
