Chinese astronauts enter space station on six-month Shenzhou 14 mission
- Spacecraft launched from Inner Mongolia at 10.44am on Sunday and docks with the Tianhe core module almost 7 hours later
- The crew includes Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space, along with experienced astronaut Chen Dong and pilot Cai Xuzhe, who is on his first trip to space
After docking, the astronauts took three hours to open four hatches and enter the space station.
China Manned Space Agency announced about 20 minutes after take-off that the launch of Shenzhou 14 was successful. It said the manned spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered the predetermined orbit 577 seconds after launch, adding that the crew were in good condition.
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The trio will be responsible for docking the 20-tonne Wentian and Mengtian lab modules – to be launched later in the year – to the Tianhe core module, the crew’s living space.
They will later welcome the Tianzhou 5 supply ship and another batch of three astronauts – the Shenzhou 15 crew – before returning to Earth in December. It will be the first time for the Tiangong to host six people at once.
The Wentian lab module is expected to be launched in July and Mengtian in October, and once in place, they will allow astronauts to explore as well as research space science, materials and medicine.
A small mechanical arm installed on the Wentian module can work alone or with the larger robotic arm on the Tianhe core module to help astronauts in activities outside the space station.
The crew will also perform two to three spacewalks, which for the first time will be from the Wentian lab. An airlock cabin in the lab will serve as the main exit-entry point for activities outside the station after it is constructed.
The astronauts are also expected to oversee five dockings, three undockings and two reconfigurations of the modules. The basic structure of the space station is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
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The jammer could cause a rocket to go off course, but the space centre did not say whether it had uncovered a sabotage attempt or accidental interference.