Chinese Manned Spacecraft Docking Glory

 (Click to expand) the Long March 2F Rocket of the type used for the Shenzhou 9 mission

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Transfer from Shenzhou 9 to Tiangong 1 space station 

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What do Indians think of this event?

On 18 June.the manned Shenzhou 9 spacecraft docked with China’s Tiangong 1 space station - marking China's first manned spacecraft docking.  Shenzhou 9 (part of the Shenzhou Program) was launched on 16 June 2012. The mission's crew includes the first Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang. The next planned mission is Shenzhou 10, intended for launch in 2013

Background

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft arrived at Jiuquan Satellite Cosmodrome on April 9, 2012 and its carrier rocket, the Long March 2F (weighing 497,000 kg with  5,920.00 kN (1,330,860 lbf) of liftoff thrust) arrived on 9 May. On 9 June 2012, the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket were rolled out to launch pad in Jiuquan Satellite Cosmodrome  (located in the northwestern Gobi desert, 1,600 km from Beijing)..Shenzhou 9 is the 9th flight in China's Shenzhou program and the fourth manned spaceflight. A Chinese Long March 2F rocket was used to launch Shnezhou 9 from the remote Jiuquan Satellite Cosmodrome in the northwestern Gobi Desert.

Liu Yang joined the PLA Air Force in 1997 and qualified as a pilot before becoming the deputy head of a flight unit, holding the PLAAF rank of major. She is a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience. After two years of astronaut training, Liu was selected for the crew of Shenzhou 9. At Tiangong 1, Liu is (officially) performing experiments in space medicine.

The two other Shenzhou 9 crew are Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang.

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