BEIJING: The Shenzhou-14 spaceship has docked with Tianhe, the core module of China’s space station and the three Chinese astronauts aboard entered the core module.
The spaceship successfully conducted a fast automated rendezvous and docked with the radial port of the space station’s core module Tianhe, the port facing the Earth, after autonomously changing its orbit six times, at 5:42 p.m. Beijing Time, said the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).
The whole process of docking took approximately seven hours.
“This time, it docked from the radial, or the most challenging position. But we’ve performed well. We consider the technology stable and established,” Gao Xu, deputy chief designer of the Shenzhou manned spaceship system of China Academy of Space Technology, told CGTN.
Gao said the combination is in great condition to assemble the space station.
The three taikonauts opened four capsule hatches before they entered the core module of the space station.
Later they entered the space station’s core module successfully, embarking on their upcoming six months trip in space.
The priority of the Shenzhou-14 crew is to activate the essential systems for human living such as oxygen recycling, drinking water and the sleeping environment, said Wang Saijin, deputy chief designer of Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in a previous interview.
“In the following week, the taikonauts will open the hatches of two cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-3 and Tianzhou-4, to organize and move around the supply packages for future use,” said Wang, “but first they deserve some rest.”
The Shenzhou-14 crewed spaceship atop the Long March-2F Y14 carrier rocket took off at 10:44 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
