China’s Shenzhou-12 spacecraft docks with space station
The spacecraft, launched on Thursday (June 17) morning, completed the orbital status setting after entering the orbit and docked with the space station core module around 3:54 p.m. local time (0754 GMT), 6.5 hours after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
The astronauts Nie Haisheng, 56, Liu Boming, 54, and Tang Hongbo, 45, will then enter the space station. They will live onboard for the next three months, testing its various systems and getting the module fully up and running.
Shenzhou-12 is the third of 11 missions - four of which will be crewed - needed to complete China's first full-fledged space station. Construction began in April with the launch of Tianhe, the first and largest of three modules.
