A Chinese spacecraft carrying three astronauts successfully docked with the
country''s nascent space station on Thursday, hours after blasting off from
the Gobi Desert, in a major milestone for the Communist giant''s space
exploration plans and its ambitious bid to establish itself as a leading
space power.
According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), Shenzhou-12 manned
spaceship successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on
Thursday afternoon.
The spaceship, launched on Thursday morning, completed orbital status
setting after entering the orbit and conducted a fast autonomous rendezvous
and docking with the front docking port of Tianhe at 3:54 pm (Beijing Time),
forming a three-module complex with the cargo craft Tianzhou-2, the
state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The whole process took approximately 6.5 hours. This is Tianhe''s first
rendezvous and docking with a Shenzhou spaceship since it was sent into
orbit on April 29, the report said.
Earlier, the spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, was launched
from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China''s Gobi Desert
at 9:22 am (Beijing Time).
In a textbook launch, telecast live by the official television channels,
spacecraft Shenzhou-12 sent the three astronauts into the same orbit of the
core module of the space station Tianhe launched in April.
Billed as the most prestigious and strategically important space project for
China after the country''s recent Mars and previous Moon missions, the low
orbit space station would be the country''s eye from the sky, providing
round the clock bird’s-eye view for its astronauts on the rest of the world.
After docking with Tianhe, the astronauts, commander Nie Haisheng, 56, Liu
Boming, 54 and Tang Hongbo, 45, will stay there for a three-month long
mission to carry out the painstaking work of building the space station,
which is expected to be ready by next year.
“It feels great,” Nie, a veteran who took part in two previous manned space
missions, said after reaching the near earth-orbit.
It will be China''s longest crewed space mission to date and the first in
nearly five years.
China previously sent the space station''s Tianhe core cabin module on April
29, and a cargo spacecraft with supplies on May 29.
The three astronauts, who will build the station, are expected to set a new
record for China''s manned space mission duration, exceeding the 33 days
kept by the Shenzhou-11 crew in 2016.
The Shenzhou-12 spaceship will conduct a fast-autonomous rendezvous and
docking with the in-orbit space station core module Tianhe, forming a
complex with Tianhe and the cargo craft. The astronauts will be stationed in
the core module.
The spacecraft was launched ahead of next month’s centenary celebrations of
the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to showcase it as one of its
important achievements of China under its leadership.
Considering its political significance, two vice-premiers with
responsibility for science and technology, Han Zheng and Liu He, attended
the launch event at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Centre, besides
China’s top military Generals including Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe.
Han and Liu shook hands and congratulated staff after the launch.
Highlighting the space station’s significance, astronaut Nie in his media
interaction on Wednesday made no secret that the mission is closely tied
with China’s ambition to become a leading space power.
“This mission will be the first manned flight as part of the China space
station’s construction,” said Nie, who has been a Communist Party member for
more than three decades.
“China’s space exploration development has crystallised the Chinese people’s
thousand-year dream of flying to the sky, and added a heroic chapter to the
100-year history of struggle of the [Chinese Communist] party,” he was
quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
Once ready, the station is expected to be opened for China’s close allies
like Pakistan and for other international space cooperation partners.
Ji Qiming, assistant to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) director, told
the media on Wednesday that besides close cooperation with Russia, China is
also having bilateral cooperation exchanges with countries including France,
Italy, Pakistan and others focussing on space experiments in fundamental
physics, space medicine and space autonomy on the space station.
More importantly, he highlighted the cooperation with Russia, which is part
of the International Space Station (ISS), a collaborative project involving
five participating space agencies - NASA (US), Roscomos (Russia), JAXA
(Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada).
Once ready, China will be the only country to own a space station while the
ISS is now a collaborative project of several countries.
It is expected to be a competitor to the ageing ISS and perhaps may become a
sole space station to remain in orbit once the ISS retires.
The ISS is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS)
which is operated by Russia, while the United States Orbital Segment (USOS)
is run by the United States as well as many other nations.
China’s space station will be equipped with a robotic arm over which the US
has raised concerns for its possible military applications.
The arm, which can be stretched to 15 metres, will also play a vital role in
building the space station in orbit, Zhou Jianping, chief designer of
China''s manned space engineering project, had said.
Astronauts will team up with the robotic arm to make in-orbit space station
construction and maintenance possible.
China, in the past, has launched several scavenger satellites fitted with
robotic arms to gather and steer space debris so that it burns up in
Earth''s atmosphere.
China plans to send several space missions including with astronauts to
carry supplies and materials to complete the construction of the space
station.
The space station will operate in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 340-450
km above Earth''s surface for more than 10 years.
The T-shape station has one core module at the centre and a lab capsule on
each side. Each of the modules will weigh over 20 tonnes, with the total
mass of the station expected to weigh about 66 tonnes.
Thursday''s launch is China''s seventh crewed mission to space and the first
during the construction of China''s space station.
While Beijing showcased the space station as a success, there were also
concerns about the debris as China is set to launch several space missions
during the construction of the station.
Last month, the debris of Long March-5B Y2 which had launched the core
module caused a global stir as it fell back to Earth. Its remnants safely
crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives on May 9 with no reports of
damage.
The hurtling debris of the rocket evoked sharp criticism from the US, NASA
and international astrophysicists, saying Beijing won a reckless gamble. The
uncontrolled fall of the rocket stoked fears that it may fall into inhabited
areas.
Ji played down concerns, saying that the last stage of all types of launches
was treated with passivation technology and will not explode in orbit or
generate space debris.
“The Shenzhou cargo ship will deorbit and re-enter the atmosphere for
destruction after all pre-set tasks are completed in a controlled manner
with only minimum wreckage falling into the South Pacific waters," Ji said.